The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. NREL is the only federal laboratory dedicated to the research, development, commercialization, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
In this role, NREL is partnering with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and other external organizations to lead the Waterborne Plastics Assessment and Collection Technologies (WaterPACT) research project.
Technologies are needed to remediate the damage those debris cause to individuals, communities, and ecosystems, and to reclaim the lost financial, energy, and greenhouse gas investment within those plastics debris for a circular economy. This collaborative project seeks to bring together a research team that can work to resolve these challenges.
To support this work, NREL is working with external waterborne plastics debris experts who can help the team assess the state of the science and technology and guide and advance future assessment and collection activities.
The Moore Institute’s Dr. Win Cowger is supporting this project by leading the development of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document for participants to follow and developing data collection tools and managing data.
This SOP is intended to be a living document throughout the field campaign portion of the Waterborne Plastics Assessment and Collection Technologies (WaterPACT) project. You can view the full SOP here: WaterPACT SOP