The Leiden Advocacy Project on Plastic (LAPP) is a pro bono initiative concerning legal questions on plastics and is founded to address and research the legal issues related to plastic pollution.

On Friday evening 8 June, Thijs Bosker, Associate Professor at Leiden University College (LUC), was on television in NOS Jeugdjournaal about plastic pollution and microplastics "the danger of microplastics is that it can end up in the food chain and even on our plate ".

On Friday morning, 8 June, Thijs Bosker, Associate Professor at Leiden University College, was interviewed by NPO Radio 1 on plastic pollution in Antartctica: ''Anually, an additional 4 - 12 billion kilos of plastic ends up in our ocean''.

On 27 November 2019, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen) organized a symposium on the plastic pollution crisis.

From 27 to 31 January, a workshop on the regulation of plastic pollution based on scientific evidence will be held at the Lorentz Center in Leiden.

Shell, our country's largest company, is constructing a vast plastics plant in the United States. And it is doing so at a time when the European Union, led by the Netherlands, is launching a major pact to combat use of plastic.

Promotor: M.L. van Hecke

Promotor: P.M. Brakefield

Nanoplastics influence the behaviour of larval zebrafish, says new research by the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML). The researchers observed that a certain type of nanoparticles leads to stress reactions in the sugar balance, resulting in hyperactivity…

Thomas is currently a Bachelor’s student at Leiden University Law School.

Daan is a LLB student at Leiden Law School.

On Friday 8 February, the first Plastic Avengers Conference took place in Amsterdam. Initiator Merijn Tinga, the Plastic Soup Surfer from Leiden, brought together ‘independent plastic fighters' to arrive at a manifesto against plastic pollution. The Leiden Advocacy Project on Plastic was also invited…

A political-legal study of rights invocation by pollution victims in China and Indonesia

Current projects

Festival

Mapping out the problem of plastic pollution requires a lot of data over a large area. That's why scientists are increasingly turning to volunteers for help, also known as citizen science. But what are the challenges for a researcher when he or she involves the public in research in this way? Four Leiden…

How does invasive hybridization affect threatened native species?

Galaxies form and evolve through close interaction with their surroundings. As a result, the heavy elements ('metals') that are synthesized in stars, are found both inside and outside galaxies.

Prerna is a Master’s student in Public International Law at Leiden Law School.

Four Master's students Science Communication & Society made two podcasts on the theme Plastic for the end project of their study programme. With the podcasts, they helped the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) to draw attention to plastic pollution. And that was harder than it seemed. 'Be sure to test…

Teresa is currently a student of Public International Law LLM at Leiden University.

Lineke is a Master’s student in European Law.

Louise is currently a student at Leiden University Law School.

Vera is currently a third year LLB student at Leiden University

On Friday 8 February, the first Plastic Avengers Conference took place in Amsterdam. Initiator Merijn Tinga, the Plastic Soup Surfer from Leiden, brought together ‘independent plastic fighters' to arrive at a manifesto against plastic pollution. The Leiden Advocacy Project on Plastic was also invited…

What is the influence of the 2016 ban on free plastic bags on the environment? Industrial ecologist Stefano Cucurachi received a LUF grant of €75.000 to answer this question.

Agata is a Public International Law Master’s student at Leiden University.

At the moment the Citizen Science Lab is supporting two new citizen science projects, one on plastic pollution and the other one on psychology. More information on these and other citizen science projects you can participate in, you can find here. As most citizen science projects from Leiden University…

Below you will find an overview of the publications of The Leiden Advocacy Project on Plastic.

Gabriela is a current master’s student Public International Law at Leiden Law School.

On 17 October 2019, Laure d'Hondt defended her thesis 'Addressing Industrial Pollution in Indonesia. The Nexus between Regulation and Redress seeking'. The doctoral research was supervised by prof. A.W. Bedner and dr. J.A.C. Vel.

How dangerous are micro- and nanoplastics? Do they affect the environment? What harm can they do to our bodies? Questions that we can now finally answer because of Fazel Abdolahpur Monikh. Together with his colleagues, he developed a method to detect and quantify nano-sized plastics. Their paper has…

The sand on European beaches may look pristine, but in every kilogram of sand there are on average 250 microplastics: fragments smaller than 5mm. These results are part of a study from Leiden researchers with the help of beach-goers throughout Europe.

Merijn Tinga, the Plastic Soup Surfer, launched the Pick Up 10 campaign. This campaign, supported by Google and National Geographic, uses photo recognition to identify and monitor litter through an app.

Lecture

Promotores: Prof.dr. P.M. Brakefield, Prof.dr. B.J. Zwaan (Wageningen Universiteit)

The Plastic Soup Foundation and Parley for the Oceans hosted the very first Plastic Heath Summit in Amsterdam on 3 October, covering the most relevant and pressing health concerns surrounding plastics and human health. Beyond discussing the latest findings in the field we asked the urgent question:…

Bárbara is a student of Public International Law at Leiden University.

Two weeks after 3 October the Leiden canals were still full of plastic disposable cups. Auke-Florian Hiemstra and fellow students have fished thousands of these cups out of the canals and photographed them. Now they put a photo of one of these canal cups on Instagram every day.

Using the principles of Industrial Ecology in Environmental Policy making in two cases: transition to a hydrogen economy and chlorinated compounds.

Lecture, Q&A

UNPLASTIC, a research project by Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) won the Dopper Changemaker Challenge 2019. LUC student Roos Kolkman represented UNPLASTIC during the semi-finals on Saturday.

'We have to look for products that can replace ordinary disposable plastics, for example of organic material. Within 20 years, the average plastic use of a household will be largely reduced.' According to Thijs Bosker, Associate Professor at Leiden University College, in Edition NL of Tuesday, October…

Help us spot and clean up the plastic in the canals of Leiden! Leiden University is calling on the good folk of Leiden to help our researchers study the plastic in the city’s canals. And if you’d like our canals to be plastic-free, why not donate towards a fleet of canoes to clean them up?

From 26 to 29 September 2017 the International Conference on Microplastic Pollution in the Mediterranean Sea was held.

Do e-waste workers display enhanced effects of adverse health effects due to informal e-waste processing in Nigeria? Is there a difference between the health outcomes of the exposed and the control groups? Are there difference in health effects within and between job groups (collectors, dismantlers,…

The Citizen Science Lab supports researchers, citizens and societal organizations to generate new knowledge together. Explore this website to learn more about the Citizen Science Lab and projects in which you can participate.