Pest monitoring is creating microplastics, but doesn't need to

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-10-24 03:00

New Zealand

Remains of plastic chewcards after use for tracking mammals. Credit: Katie Pitt

Single-use conservation tools shouldn't be made of plastic, say NZ researchers who studied pollution from corrugated plastic chewcards—which are filled with bait, like peanut butter, and used to collect toothmarks from mammals. They deployed 80 chewcards for 1-2 nights across three sites and estimated over 15% of the plastic was missing afterwards, suggesting larger conservation projects may create several kilograms of microplastic pollution. Some chewcards in the study lost over 60% of their plastic and 'best practise' is 3-7 nights' deployment, so even worse pollution is possible, especially for sites with lots of rodents. The scientists' preliminary trials show wood-pulp chewcards are a promising alternative to polypropylene, however, and they urge the conservation industry to display leadership in reducing plastic pollution.

Expert Reaction

These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.

Katie Pitt, PhD student at Lincoln University and lead author of this study

I’ve been looking into single-use plastic in the conservation sector and how we can reduce reliance on it by adopting sustainable alternatives and techniques. This perspective article looks into the potential microplastic residue being left in our environment from corflute chewcards, and how the accumulation may be inadvertently affecting high-priority conservation ecosystems.

"Future articles will assess potential alternatives and potential opportunities and challenges of introducing sustainable alternatives into the NZ conservation sector, through a social survey.

Last updated: 18 Oct 2024 9:54am

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Declared conflicts of interest None declared.

Multimedia

Chewcard and associated microplastic residue.

Grid printed on OHP paper used to measure plastic residue.

Katie Pitt, lead author

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Journal/
conference: New Zealand Journal of Zoology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Lincoln University

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