In October 2023, it was time for the "Plastic Pirates" team of the Ecologic Institute to leave their desks and embark on a quest to find plastic waste. In autumn weather, the "Eco" Plastic Pirates explored the river Havel in Berlin-Spandau and made some interesting discoveries. Among their findings were 502 cigarette butts, 120 bottle caps, and 45 plastic bags.

Mandy Hinzmann and Doris Knoblauch (both Ecologic Institute) each accompanied a class in October 2022 with the Plastic Pirates, a Citizen Science campaign to collect data on (plastic) waste pollution in rivers. The students take on the role of scientists and collect, sort and catalogue litter according to scientific methods. The results are checked and incorporated into a large study.

In an interview with "Bürger schaffen Wissen", the central platform for citizen science in Germany, Linda Mederake (Ecologic Institute) and Tim Kiessling (Kiel Science Factory) talk about the history of the citizen science project "Plastic Pirates", their experiences in working with school classes and their expectations for the ECSA Conference 2022.

In her presentation, titled "Evaluating environmental policies with citizen science data? An example from the Plastic Pirates investigating plastic pollution of rivers", Linda Mederake (Ecologic Institute) presented an approach to evaluate the Single-Use Plastics Directive with the help of citizen science data.

It's that time again: From 15 September to 15 November 2022, youths between the ages of 10 and 16 are being called upon to take part in the "Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!" campaign along with their teachers or group leaders. The aim is for participants to deal with the issue of plastic waste in the environment – especially in and around rivers. The accompanying teaching and working materials, as well as the booklet, guide the participants through the campaign and can be ordered free of charge by teachers or group leaders on the campaign website.

Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! is a joint citizen science campaign by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in collaboration with the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The campaign is taking place in all three countries from 2020 to 2021 as part of the trio presidency of the EU Council. The goals of the campaign are to strengthen scientific collaboration in Europe, promote the level of dedication among citizen scientists and to raise awareness and consciousness for the environment. Ecologic Institute develops and programs the website in four languages. In addition to general information and instructions on the action, the website also offers an ordering system for the action materials of the participating countries.

A torn plastic bag on the riverbank or a yoghurt cup floating in the water are symptoms of serious interference with the highly complex system of seas, the ocean and flowing waterways. The Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project focuses on this plastic waste problem and our future handling of it. It aims to familiarise young people with the general topic of the ocean and water cycles in the process. They will learn what it means to work scientifically – and try their hand at it.