Fertilizing Fields With Sewage Sludge Releases More Microplastics Into the Air Than Previously Believed, Study Finds
by chrisdh79
Fertilizing Fields With Sewage Sludge Releases More Microplastics Into the Air Than Previously Believed, Study Finds
by chrisdh79
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From the [EcoWatch](https://www.ecowatch.com/microplastics-fertilizers-wind.html) article: Microplastics are tiny plastic particles from textiles and other sources that have broken down into smaller and smaller pieces until they are less than five millimeters in length. They have been found all over the world, from sediments in the deep ocean to Arctic snow.
Scientists have found that microplastics are being released though natural fertilizers from treated sewage sludge deposited onto agricultural fields, as more plastic particles get picked up by the wind than was previously believed, a press release from the American Chemical Society (ACS) said.
“Land application of wastewater biosolids on agricultural soils is suggested as a sustainable pathway to support the circular economy; however, this practice often enriches microplastics and associated contaminants in topsoil,” the authors of the small-scale study wrote. “Analyzing wind-borne sediments collected from wind tunnel experiments on biosolid-applied agricultural fields, we show enrichment of microplastics in wind-blown sediments.”
The researchers found that microplastics are picked up from fields by wind more easily than dust particles of a similar size.
“[T]he combined effects of the low density of microplastics and weakened wet-bonding interparticle forces between microplastics and soil particles lower their threshold velocity, the minimum wind velocity necessary for wind erosion to occur. Our calculations indicate that microplastics could be emitted at wind speeds lower than the characteristic threshold of background soil,” the researchers wrote in the study.