Hydrogeology

Horizon 2020 (EU): RECYCLE - Migration and Remedation of Pesticides

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (H2020-MSCA-RISE)

Removal and Mitigation of Pollution from the Use of Pesticides: Prevention, Recycling and Resource Management

Pesticides allow for better agricultural harvests but are themselves becoming a scarce resource. In the subsurface pesticides are transported by the infiltrating rainwater from agricultural areas to rivers and lakes. There, a large influx of pesticides can lead to eutrophication. Minimizing the transport of pesticides to surface waters and maximizing their reuse helps to achieve the goals of the EU water framework directive and is the idea of a circular economy.

RECYCLE tries to develop new methods and approaches to trap pesticide components in the drainage of agricultural areas and in the sediments of eutrophic streams. The main vision of RECYCLE is to develop a new technology to trap the used pesticide components and reuse them for agricultural purposes.

RECYCLE's objectives will be addressed through a coordinated research program with strong collaboration in and outside the EU between world-leading teams in academia and the private sector.

The Department of Hydrogeology of the TU Berlin focuses their work in RECYCLE on a process-based investigation of the transport and adsorption behavior of environmentally and economically relevant pesticides in groundwater. As part of this, we try to improve our understanding of pesticide transport under natural conditions. Besides precipitation, pesticide amount and type, more complex factors influence pesticide transport. For example, it can be affected by the presence of phosphate, which is also a fertilizer. Therefore, a better coordinated application of fertilizers and pesticides might lead to a more efficient usage of both.

Project partners

Politecnico di Milano (IT), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (ES), Technische Universität Berlin (DE), Weizmann Institute of Science (Il), The University of Warwick (UK), Bioazul (ES), Tauw GMBH (DE), Noesis Solutions (BE), University of Southern California (USA), The University of Sydney (AU)

Project Period: 2020 - 2024

Funded by Horizon 2020 - The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation