The project Macroplastics addressed the issue of marine plastic pollution. The project aimed to provide a solid scientific basis for understanding the current and future distribution patterns of plastic debris along the coasts and islands of the northwest German coastlines, to clearly identify the polluters, and to develop effective abatement strategies. To achieve this goal, an interdisciplinary consortium consisting of physical oceanographers, geoecologists and environmental planners at the University of Oldenburg collaborated in a joint project funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture. The aim of the project within the working group Marine Sensor Systems was to understand the mechanisms that lead to the landing of plastic waste on beaches and coasts and to investigate possible transport pathways of plastic litter in the southern North Sea. For this purpose, experiments with drift buoys were carried out and oceanographic and meteorological parameters were recorded during various measurement campaigns. Furthermore, various experiments were conducted on research cruises with the research vessel Heinke to quantitatively investigate the distribution of macroscopic plastic waste in the southern North Sea.