Baltic Breakfast: Treating or not treating marine polluted sediments?
Hundreds of areas in Swedish marine waters are contaminated by past industrial activities such as sawmills, pulp and paper mills, steelworks and ports.
Common pollutants include heavy metals, oil residues, PAHs, PCBs and dioxins, as well as TBT spread from old antifouling paints. The contaminants can spread through the ecosystem through sediment particle resuspension followed by uptake by uptake by plants and animals.
Swedish authorities have long worked to remediate the marine polluted areas, usually by dredging contaminated sediments and disposing of them on land or in the deep sea. However, such methods often risk further spreading pollutants, including through leachate to surface and groundwater.
At this breakfast seminar, you will learn about a remediation method that binds contaminants in the sediment without dredging. You will also hear about new research on how organisms can adapt to polluted environments. This raises the question: is it sometimes better to leave contaminated sediments undisturbed until safer solutions are available?
Speakers
Jonas Gunnarsson, Professor at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University
Divya Pal, Researcher at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University
Moderator: Ellen Bruno, Policy analyst at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre
Practical information
The seminar will take place on Wednesday, 18 March 2026 from 08:30 to 09:15, at the Scandic Klara hotel on Slöjdgatan 7 in Stockholm. A vegetarian breakfast will be served from 8:00.
Physical participation requires registration.
Registration for physical participation
The seminar will also be livestreamed. A recording can be watched afterwards. No registration is needed to watch the livestream.
ABOUT BALTIC BREAKFAST
Baltic Breakfast is a series of short breakfast seminars/webinars organised by Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre. Their aim is to present the latest knowledge about issues of central importance to the Baltic Sea environment. The webinars are addressed to people in different sectors working for a sustainable development in the Baltic Sea region and everyone interested in environmental issues of the Baltic Sea.
Most Baltic Breakfasts are held in Swedish, but sometimes they are targeted at an international audience and held in English.
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Last updated: 2026-04-15
Source: Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre