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The Center for Marine Debris Research
The Center for Marine Debris Research (CMDR) was established in 2019 as a joint institute between NIST’s Biochemical and Exposure Sciences Group in the Chemical Sciences Division and Hawai‘i Pacific University (HPU). The collaboration addressed the urgent need to understand reclaimed plastics and develop industrial solutions.
CMDR’s mission drew on the strengths of both partners. NIST developed and applied methods to measure the quantities, sources, transport, fate, impacts, and reuse of plastics reclaimed from the ocean. NIST scientists focused on advancing chemical methods and standards for reclaimed plastic research and transferred that technology to HPU’s faculty, staff, and students, who applied the methods to real-world samples and questions. The partnership successfully trained future scientists and built an educated workforce in reclaimed plastic measurement science.
NIST scientists, university faculty, staff, and students worked together on multi-disciplinary projects related to plastics reclamation and recycling. The facility served as an international hub for cutting-edge reclaimed plastic research. Although the partnership between NIST and HPU has concluded, the work accomplished through CMDR left a lasting impact on the field of reclaimed plastic research and workforce development.