The FARE project (First steps towards an Assessment of plastic Risk to the Norwegian Environment) project is established to understand the environmental effects of plastics it is necessary to set this within the context of risk. The FARE project will enhance scientific knowledge and management of plastic debris in Norway by producing a toolbox for assessing the quality of macro- and microplastic exposure and effects data. This specifically designed toolbox will allow users to assess the quality of existing macro- and microplastic exposure and effects data. In doing so, the project also supports more harmonised methods by assessing the quality of methodologies and standards, and this will encourage the development and implementation of regional or global monitoring programmes such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and facilitate exchange of monitoring results.

Currently developing the ‘PlastRiskToolbox’ for assessing the quality of macroplastics and microplastics environmental concentration and toxicity data. The toolbox will allow existing data sets and scientific publications to be evaluated against a defined set of criteria to ensure that only those of sufficient quality are selected for use in risk assessment of macroplastic and microplastic pollution. Although developed to facilitate risk assessment in Norway, the toolbox can be applied to data generated for any geographical region, including global risk assessment.