Written question asked by Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party) on Wednesday, 6 September 2023, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 20 September 2023. It was answered by Lord Benyon (Conservative) on Friday, 15 September 2023 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Rivers and Seas and Oceans: Microplastics

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve methods to measure the amount and types of microplastic and microfibres in rivers, lakes, seas and their sediments.

Answer: Defra intends to publish a report that it commissioned on improving the sampling and analytical protocols to determine the quantities, loads and types of microplastics in surface waters and sediments, later this year. Following this, working with the Environment Agency, Defra will consider the approaches to sampling surface waters and sediments to develop provisional standard operating procedure guidelines that will be used to improve sampling, processing and analysing of microplastics in river waters and sediments.

Secondary information