Temporal variability of litter pollution of rivers in Germany - A long-term assessment by schoolchildren as citizen scientists.

Understanding litter dynamics on riversides is challenging due to the need for extensive data. A seven-year citizen science study with schoolchildren showed no major changes in litter density, composition, and sources on German riversides. The study categorized 26,757 macrolitter items (> 2.

What potential does the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive have for reducing plastic pollution at coastlines and riversides? An evaluation based on citizen science data.

To address environmental pollution by plastic litter, the European Union adopted EU Directive 2019/904, the so called "Single-Use Plastics Directive" (SUPD), which bans several single-use plastic products and addresses additional items with measures such as extended producer responsibility and obligatory requirements for product redesign. This study assessed the potential of the SUPD to reduce litter pollution in the environment with three scenarios. The "best case" scenario assumed that all measures of the SUPD completely prevent targeted items from getting into the environment.