From Pollution to Solution: Innovations in and from the Sea

Marine pollution, through litter (such as plastics and microplastics), biological entities (e.g. harmful macro- and micro-organisms) or chemicals (nutrients, heavy metals, pesticides etc.), is an issue of rising global concern. There is an increasing need to find solutions to marine pollution and build a community of marine biotechnologists, bioengineers and innovators to tackle this problem in new ways. Ideally, actions will bridge the gap between science, society, industry and within scientific fields.

We are looking for new and original ideas that will help to reduce marine pollution in a sustainable way. We seek to assess these solutions’ economic feasibility, to present innovative ideas for pollution clean-ups in a multi-sectoral engagement, to highlight the use of pollution sources as ingredients for new products or services, and to investigate the legislative procedures and barriers that would be needed to efficiently launch the solutions in practice. Through this Research Topic, we wish to highlight a collection of approaches, including bio-based solutions for individual pollution sources that will spark new innovations and collaborative efforts leading to a greener, bluer and more sustainable future.