In recent years, research on microplastics in the marine environment has increased. While our knowledge on microplastic prevalence and occurrence is rapidly growing, we still lack sound understanding of the various impacts, effects, and potential risk of microplastics on marine species, ecosystems, and even humans.
In 2018, the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) was charged, by state legislation (SB 1263), to develop a Statewide Microplastics Strategy with the goal of increasing the state’s understanding of the scale and risk of microplastics on the marine environment and identifying proposed solutions to address the impacts of microplastics. An important component of the Statewide Microplastics Strategy will be the development of a risk assessment framework for microplastic pollution in California, to be used to evaluate options, including source reduction and product stewardship techniques, barriers, costs, and benefits.
