Scientists from Korea provide a comprehensive methodology for analyzing microplastics in soils. (IMAGE)
Caption
Plastic pollution is already a major problem worldwide. However, when subjected to weathering and environmental factors plastic waste gets broken down into microplastics (MPs) that pose a bigger threat to human and environmental health. MPs get accumulated in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, with the latter being a larger sink for them. But it is only recently that research on MPs in soils has gathered steam and even that relies on analytical methods used in existing marine research, without acknowledging the intrinsic complexities of analyzing MPs in soils. As a result, there is no systematic and comprehensive analytical procedure that has been standardized for soil MPs. Now a team of researchers from Korea provide a critical appraisal of current analytical methods used in soil MP research and propose a comprehensive, eight-phase methodology that can guide the development of global standards for accurately analyzing MPs in soils.
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midnightbreakfastcafe on Flickr Image Source: https://openverse.org/image/2d168ef9-e598-4e39-bf8f-d5881293aea1
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CC BY