Author: admin

In recent years, various projects have been carried out at Matís that involve plastic in one way or another. Sophie Jensen, project manager in a professional group that deals with biological materials, has worked on most of the projects, such as the projects NordMar Plastic and projects on chemicals in eroded microplastics in the seas that were funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, LuLam Wrap and projects on challenges when packing vegetables that were sponsored by the Food Fund.

There is an urgent need to develop new, environmentally friendly solutions when it comes to packaging materials for food in order to replace plastic, and Matís has worked with entrepreneurs and researchers at home and abroad to find suitable substitutes. More general projects on plastics have also been carried out, for example to define, study and monitor plastics in the environment with the aim of increasing people's environmental awareness and reducing plastic use.

The question is on the website of the Land Conservancy and on the website of the initiative Plastic-free September What is plastic? answered and it states that many people think that plastic is a wonder because it is easy to mold, it is durable and durable. Plastic does not disappear or destroy, but breaks down over time into smaller and smaller units or particles. The production of plastic requires fossil fuel, i.e. oil and gas but those resources are not renewable which simply means that eventually they will run out.

The problem with plastic is not really the plastic itself, but how it is used. Each Icelander uses an average of 40 kg of packaging plastic annually, mostly single-use plastic products. Much of this plastic ends up in the sea, where it causes damage to the natural environment.

Projects that Matís has worked on that are related to plastics are diverse. The NordMar Plastic project was an extremely ambitious project that was undertaken in 2019 and the strategy was to set up a Nordic network of experts in plastics with a special focus on microplastics. There had been a lack of a standard or standardized methods for measuring and analyzing microplastics in the environment. Emphasis was placed on the northern countries, because there has been a lack of information, for example, about where the microplastics can be found, to what extent, etc. The goal was to coordinate actions in these matters in the region and examine what needs to be done and how.

Another major goal was to simply raise awareness of the plastic problem in society. Today, people are beginning to realize that large plastic items in the sea such as disposable tableware, plastic packaging, fishing gear and more are a problem, but we don't see microplastics and therefore don't realize how big the problem around it is. . On the one hand, microplastics are created when larger plastic units break down over time, and on the other hand, they are produced separately and used in various products such as cleaning agents, paint, clothing and more.

Microplastics can be found in everything possible. In water, on glaciers and in the atmosphere. We humans have been shown to ingest the equivalent of one credit card per week due to plastic pollution.

Í the project on chemicals in eroded microplastics in the sea it was investigated whether and in what quantity the substances in plastic that are harmful end up in the marine environment. Two types of plastic were chopped into tiny particles and placed in net bags into the sea for four months. Chemical measurements were made both before the plastic was put into the sea and after it was taken up again, and then it was possible to see the difference in how much of the plastic had come off.

A risk assessment was also carried out, as little is known about exactly which materials are used in different types of plastic. Due to the lack of regulations on plastics, plastic manufacturers are not required to provide this information separately.

Many of the substances found and released from the plastic are carcinogenic or have a hormonal effect, for example on estrogen and thus on people's fertility. It was not possible to draw any conclusions from this study, but it was considered important to draw attention to the fact that these substances are being released into the sea and there is reason for further research.

In the project about challenges in packing vegetables Sophie summed up the current state of food packaging, but plastic certainly has a number of desirable properties when it comes to preserving food. On the other hand, it is important to weigh the advantages and evaluate against the negative effects of plastic use. In the summary, the differences between conventional plastics, organic plastics and biodegradable plastics were examined and various advantages and disadvantages were evaluated. Packaging made of bioplastics is considered environmentally friendly and has become a strong substitute for plastic packaging.

Í final report of the project states that various future solutions for environmentally friendly packaging are on the horizon and a lot of development in this field has been done both in Iceland and abroad. There is a lack of packaging made from Icelandic raw materials and knowledge of material processing for them, but several innovative projects are in the works. There is also a lot of innovation abroad related to packaging made from pure raw materials, and we can mention the development of packaging made from the supporting tissue of plants and algae. Therefore, it is right to pay close attention to the innovations that are emerging.

Listen to the podcast here: Plastic research - "All countries need to buckle up, start measuring this and say stop!"

On June 5, Matís, together with Austurbrú, held a workshop organized by the European project NATALIE in Reyðarfjörður. At the end of last year, the European project began NATALIE, which Matís and East Bridge are participants in. The main focus of the project is to develop so-called nature-based solutions (NBS). These solutions are intended to respond to the problems caused by climate change. These include the increased risk of landslides, rising sea levels, algae blooms and more.

The goal of the workshop was to introduce the project to the main stakeholders in the area and get their perspective on the possibilities offered by the project. In the case of NATALIE, the stakeholders are all those who have to deal with some kind of challenges related to climate change, and it is therefore a diverse group that comes to the project. There were 11 participants in the workshop and they came from municipalities, companies and institutions in the region. The project NATALIE was introduced to the participants and group work then took place according to the project's standard work method. Work was done on climate challenges, possible nature-based solutions and obstacles that could stand in the way of their implementation. A key point is to get the perspective of stakeholders before starting to implement nature-based solutions. They are experts when it comes to the problems the area is facing and can therefore contribute knowledge that is not obvious to outsiders, for example about the status of operations, proposed solutions and the importance of certain infrastructure.

The workshop went well and it was gratifying to see how active the participants were and willing to contribute so that NATALIE's goals are achieved. The region's economic operators are already aware of the climate-related challenges facing the East and want to increase the region's resilience in relation to them. This great interest in climate and environmental issues among stakeholders in East Iceland is valuable for the NATALIE project, and Matís and Austurbrú look forward to further cooperation.

NATALIE is a five-year project and there are a total of 43 participants, from all over Europe, from Romania to Iceland. The challenges these regions face are different, but they all have one thing in common to do with the water cycle. The project is extensive, but Matís is in charge of research area 7 (i.e. Case study 7) which covers the Arctic. Matís and Austurbrú will, in good cooperation with stakeholders in the region, participate in the development of new NBS solutions in the region. The solutions are developed in collaboration with experts at Exeter University and the Arctic University of Tromsø (UiT).

The project NATALIE is financed by the Horizon Europe program of the European Union under grant N° 101112859.

On the 22nd-23rd In May, the opening meeting of the European research and innovation project took place in Copenhagen BioProtect, which is led by Matís and the Norwegian Marine Research Institute. The project will last for the next 4 years, bringing together 18 companies and institutions from around Europe with the aim of developing solutions to deal with climate change and the human threat to marine biodiversity. The project has received 8 million euros of support from Horizon Europe Europe's framework program for research and innovation and is therefore among the largest projects that Icelandic parties have managed within the framework programs of Europe.

This initial meeting was attended by about 40 key representatives of the participants, together with representatives of the European Union and external advisors. There was a particularly positive atmosphere at the meeting, where everyone involved is excited about the upcoming projects, and among other things, used the meeting to plan the work that will take place in the coming semesters.

In the main role at the meeting were Sophie Jensen from Matís, who manages the project (e. coordinator), and Julian Burgos from Hafró, who is the scientific leader of the project (e. scientific manager), but together they form an excellent management team for this interesting and necessary project.