— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

Waste management group Veolia (Paris; www.veolia.com) has announced plans to test a new method for the detection of microplastics at its PET recycling plant in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, operated by subsidiary RecyPET.

The technology was developed by German greentech NGO Wasser 3.0 (Karlsruhe; www.wasserdreinull.de), with Veolia supporting the three-year project since 2022. The French group said it aims to use the technology to monitor and ultimately reduce microplastics and other wastewater loads in its PET recycling process.

According to Veolia, the Wasser 3.0 technology is simpler, faster, and cheaper than traditional detection methods. Based on fluorescent tagging, it enables a selective, and therefore more precise, colouring and measuring of microplastics in water.

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Wasser 3.0 said it ultimately aims to provide a standardised detection method, adding that “it’s important to not only ‘find’ microplastics, but to analyse the microplastics pollution and study the impact of microplastics.”