Abstract
Plastic particles of less than 5 mm size, referred as microplastics, have recently become a major environmental issue. While microplastics are well known in marine and lake systems, there have been less investigations in soils and groundwater. Here we review the origin, shape, impact, and mitigation strategies of soil and groundwater microplastics. We found that littering is the main origin of microplastics in global topsoils, while greenhouses are the main source of microplastics in South Korea. Fibers and pellets are dominant microplastic shapes in soil and groundwater. Microplastic contamination of soil and groundwater is detrimental to human health, plants, nematodes, earthworms, and soil properties. Remediation methods include pyrolysis, replacing plastics by biodegradable plastics, plastic filtration, and subsequent chemical or biological degradation.
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Adapted from Plastics for change (2021)
sources is less than 5 mm. Microplastics from the secondary sources are larger than 5 mm, which can then be broken down into smaller sizes. Adapted from Pinto et al. (2020)
Adapted from Büks and Kaupenjohann (2020)
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This work was supported by the Research Institute for Earth Resources through the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No.2019R1A6A1A03033167). It was also supported by Korea Environment Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI) through Measurement and Risk assessment Program for Management of Microplastics Program (or Project), funded by Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) (2020003110010).
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RWC designed the review, interpreted and wrote the manuscript’s first draft. JJ drew the figures of the manuscript. RWC, JYL, JJ, and HK commented on previous versions of the manuscript. JYL supervised and provided technical advice and support for this study. All authors read and approved the paper’s final version.
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Chia, R.W., Lee, JY., Kim, H. et al. Microplastic pollution in soil and groundwater: a review. Environ Chem Lett 19, 4211–4224 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01297-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01297-6