In 2016 the German Environment Agency (UBA) and the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) organised a conference on plastics in freshwater environments on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). 220 attendants from 20 European and two non-European countries attended the conference. The objective was to exchange knowledge on plastics in European freshwater environments and to discuss its environmental and societal implications. In preparation of the conference an informal questionnaire was sent to water management agencies in Europe with questions on monitoring, risk awareness and management options. This publication contains the abstracts of the oral presentations.