Agriculture

Wastewater is often used for irrigation of crops, such water containing substantial amounts of microplastics, even after treatment.

Composting has gained traction recently as a way of reducing waste and increasing soil quality. However advantageous this process is, it still comes with drawbacks. According to recent studies, although government regulation mandates macro plastics be extracted through sieving or handpicking, smaller microplastics are left to contaminate our soils.

Now, we are not saying you should end your typical composting practice, since this is a highly beneficial process that reduces the overflow of waste in our landfills. However, we should try to reach out to legislatures and local officials in order to garner support for increased regulation on microplastic pollution.

Biosolids (recycled organic waste from sewage treatments), are often used in agricultural production and recent studies have shown that as they come in close contact with plastic particles underground, these plastic particles are more likely to have harmful trace elements adsorb to them. Additionally, another study in Europe found that sludge at agricultural sites could contain approximately 4000 particles per kilogram of dry mass.

A publication taken from Science Direct states that plastic film in mulch used over agricultural fields eventually weather and accumulate in our soils. Additionally, fertilizer capsules and seed coatings are also lined with plastic material, disseminating microplastic pollution throughout our land. Erosion and runoff of land may then transport these particulates into rivers eventually making their way to oceans.

It is necessary to have alternatives to plastic resources in the case of mulch and fertilizers. In the case of advances in "Green Chemistry," which is a field that promotes the design and generation of innovative chemical products that will not lead to substantial harm on the environment or our own health, biodegradable mulch films have been developed to reduce the release of microplastics. We need more initiatives like these to counteract our plastic pollution problem.