NAUTILOS will fill in existing marine observation and modelling gaps through the development of a new generation of cost-effective sensors and samplers for physical (salinity, temperature), chemical (inorganic carbon, nutrients, oxygen), and biological (phytoplankton, zooplankton, marine mammals) essential ocean variables, in addition to micro-/nano-plastics, to improve our understanding of environmental change and anthropogenic impacts related to aquaculture, fisheries, and marine litter. Newly developed marine technologies will be integrated with different observing platforms and deployed through the use of novel approaches in a broad range of key environmental settings (e.g. from shore to deep-sea deployments) and EU policy-relevant applications: - Fisheries & Aquaculture Observing Systems, - Platforms of Opportunity demonstrations, - Augmented Observing Systems demonstration, - Demonstrations on ARGO Platform, - Animal-borne Instruments. The fundamental aim of the project will be to complement and expand current European observation tools and services, to obtain a collection of data at a much higher spatial resolution and temporal regularity and length than currently available at the European scale, and to further enable and democratise the monitoring of the marine environment to both traditional and non-traditional data users. The principles that underlie the NAUTILOS project will be those of the development, integration, validation and demonstration of new cutting-edge technologies with regards to sensors, interoperability and embedding skills. The development will always be guided by the objectives of scalability, modularity, cost-effectiveness and open-source availability of software and data products produced. NAUTILOS will also provide full and open data feed towards well-established portals and data integrators (EMODnet, CMEMS, JERICO).

We estimate the microplastic (MP) input to agricultural lands from wastewater and sewage sludge reuse in Europe and North America to be comprehensively between 107,000 and 730,000 tonnes/year making the farm environment one of the major receptors and, possibly, environmental reservoirs of MPs. While it is widely acknowledged that microplastics in the ocean are a serious environmental problem, the alarming threats posed by MPs and associated contaminants accumulating in agricultural soils are almost entirely unknown. According to recent reports a large fraction of the MPs generated and used in industrialized countries may end up in municipal wastewater and sewage sludge. A sizeable fraction of wastewater and sewage sludge is reused in these countries in agricultural lands with no technology in place to remove MPs. This is especially alarming given the high concentrations of toxic compounds and endocrine disrupting substances that can be found in plastics. Effectively, wastewater reuse and sewage sludge application may be causing persistent, pernicious and so far unacknowledged contamination of agricultural land. In IMPASSE, we propose to develop and communicate the new understanding of MP behaviour, toxicology and impacts in agrosystems. Highlights from the project are: • Development of monitoring schemes to track the fluxes and impacts of MP in agrosystems from reuse of wastewater and sewage sludge, including: i) assessment of MPs inputs, loads and fate in 3 catchment case studies, and ii) ecotoxicology of MPs in agrosystems (i.e. accumulation in soil and freshwater organisms, implication for bioaccumulation of substances contained in MPs). • Analysis of risks posed to human health from the reuse of wastewater and sewage sludge in agriculture. Specifically, the implications for enrichment of MP-derived contaminants and metabolites in crop and milk from farmlands treated with sludge and wastewater. • Interactive stakeholder engagement (including risk communication and participatory definition of management and modelling scenarios) • Development of decision support tools (including catchment modelling of MP transport and analysis of economic and environmental implications of various mitigation scenarios). This part will focus on analysis of economic and environmental co-benefits and trade-offs associated with, e.g., introduction of new technology for wastewater/sludge processing, irrigation and drainage management, and soil amendment practices that minimize exposure to MPs. • Dissemination of scenario assessment results to farmers, stakeholder groups, scientists and regulators. IMPASSE will develop awareness about a new and potentially serious threat for farms and natural ecosystems. Alarmingly, this threat has passed, so far, unobserved. Our ultimate goal is to find solutions that safeguard agricultural sustainability, human and animal health, and circular economy goals.

Plastic pollution has become a global environmental and societal concern in recent years. Numerous protocols have been developed to monitor plastic debris, but these are rarely comparable. This has hindered gathering of knowledge regarding pollution sources, development of monitoring programmes and risk assessments and implementation of mitigation measures. To develop long-term solutions to reduce plastic pollution, it is essential to establish harmonised methodologies. EUROqCHARM will address this by critically reviewing state-of-the-art analytical methods and, taking harmonisation one step further, validating them through an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) study. This will bring together prominent laboratories in environmental plastics analysis and will produce certified reference materials to be marketed for at least three of the four target matrices (water, soil/sediment, biota, air), during and after project completion. EUROqCHARM recognises that harmonisation for large scale monitoring requires flexibility, comparability and reliability. We will identify Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP), resulting in a catalogue of RAP procedures for nano-, micro- and macro-plastics for the four target matrices. Each RAP will be validated in terms of Technology Readiness Level to decide if further validation is needed (by ILC). Blueprints for standards, recommendations for policy and legislation and support for the establishment of acceptable reference levels and environmental targets will be given. This will include a roadmap for harmonised data collection and management, where policy analysis and coherence will be integral parts. To maximise impact, EUROqCHARM will also establish and consolidate an operational network for plastic monitoring, stimulating Transnational Joint Actions built on existing and future European and international initiatives. The multi-stakeholder composition of EUROqCHARM puts the group in a unique position to achieve these ambitious goals.

PAPILLONS will elucidate ecological and socioeconomic sustainability of agricultural plastics (APs) in relation to releases and impacts of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) in European soils. We will advance knowledge on sources, behaviour and impacts through cross-disciplinary research, bringing together scientists from chemistry, materials engineering, agronomy, soil ecology, toxicology and social sciences. We will transform the scientific knowledge generated into guidance on specific solutions by applying a Multi-actor approach, involving actors in the agricultural and policy sector and world-leading industries. This will enable co-creation of knowledge and provide the scientific background to enable policy, agricultural and industrial innovation towards sustainable farm production systems. We will deliver the first digital European atlas of AP use, management and waste production to estimate sources of MNP to agricultural soils. We will run integrative studies at laboratory, mesocosm and field scales in different parts of Europe to address: occurrence of AP-derived MNPs; MNP behaviour and transport in soil; uptake by biota and crops; long-term impacts on soil properties, fertility and ecological services; effects on biological and functional diversity across multiple scales; effects on plant production and quality; and socioeconomic impacts of AP-based practices. We will focus on multigenerational effect studies for relevant traditional and biodegradable polymers, at realistic and future high-exposure scenarios. PAPILLONS partners pioneered soil MNP research, host the majority of European analytical capacity for assessing soil contamination and will provide validated, high-throughput analysis for MNPs in soil. Using innovative applications of state-of-the-art analytical chemistry, we will advance analysis down to the nanoscale range and develop novel radiolabelled nanoplastics for accurately tracking behaviour and transport in soil and uptake by biota and crops.