METU Department of Environmental Engineering (Prof. Dr. İpek İmamoğlu) as project coordinator and researcher (Prof. Dr. F. Dilek Sanin), University of Maine, Arizona State University and GTE as project partners. The project “MiOCAP – Combining Molecular Level Microplastic-Organic Interaction with Meso-Scale Circularity Assessment for Macro-Scale Policy Impact” is supported by the “Support Programme for Increasing the Capacity to Benefit from International Research Funds and Participation in International R&D Collaborations” under the joint programme of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and TÜBİTAK. The pilot region of the project is Izmir province and the beneficiary is Izmir Development Agency.
The main objective of the project is to develop a circularity performance assessment (CPA) framework and contribute to the development of strategies and policies in line with the outputs obtained from the framework to be developed in order to reduce the negative ecosystem impacts related to microplastics at large scale. In addition, a web-based tool will be introduced as a guide to measure the status and potential of circularity at the value chain level and strategy recommendations will be developed.