The research is divided into the following Work Packages:

WP1: Techno-economic assessment of coastal legacy waste sources, pathways and national extent: A national-scale screening of legacy wastes within the coastal zone will be undertaken, integrating various existing databases in a single geodatabase. Region-specific data collection and validation will also take place to validate findings about priority sites and waste types. A multi-criteria assessment of envrionmental risks at coastal legacy wastes sites will then be undertaken to prioritise sites for management.

WP2: Pollutant release from legacy wastes: Comparative analysis of pollutant types and geochemical mobility: Controlled experiments will be undertaken to investigate (i) the physicochemical nature of municipal and industrial legacy wastes, (ii) the mobility of pollutants within them and across different scales, (iii) the influence of salinity on pollutant behaviour and (iv) the implications of these findings to the ecology of coastal and transitional waters. 

WP3: Climate change-driven environmental risks of legacy wastes to the coastal zone: The nature and rates of pollutant mobilisation from coastal legacy wastes subjected to successive wetting-drying cycles will be investigated to simulate possible impacts of coastal flooding resulting from climate change. The potential consequences of an increase in storm events on fluvial transport of secondary wastes to the coastal zone and the implications of such changes for the severity of impacts on the coastal zone will also be explored. 

WP4: Policy analysis and management futures: Research findings will be translated into practical recommendations for implementation, co-produced with key stakeholders in this area.