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Investigating the amount of macro, meso, and microplastics in the surface soil around the landfill of Tabriz and the effect of the prevailing wind on their distribution
Summary
Researchers sampled soil around an improperly managed landfill in Tabriz, Iran, finding it heavily contaminated with microplastics — averaging 470 particles per kilogram of dry soil — along with larger meso- and macroplastic debris. Surprisingly, the prevailing wind had little influence on how the microplastics spread around the site; the pollution was widespread in all directions. Open and poorly managed landfills are a significant and underappreciated source of microplastic contamination in surrounding soils and communities.
Environmental pollution with plastic and microplastics (MPs) is a global problem. This study investigates macro, meso, and MPs in the soil around the Tabriz landfill in northwest Iran and the effect of prevailing wind on their distribution. One control sample and one sample from the landfill itself, 20 samples in four directions at regular intervals in the direction of the prevailing wind and against it, and two perpendicular directions (22 samples) were taken and analyzed. The results showed that the landfill is poorly managed, and in fact, it is an unsanitary landfill/dump site. The soil around it is polluted with the average abundance of macro, meso, and MPs equal to 6.5 ± 10.4 item/kg(dw), 15.5 ± 28.3 item/kg(dw), and 470 ± 193 item/kg(dw) respectively. The prevailing wind in the region has had no significant effect on the dispersion and distribution of MPs. The most abundant MPs in the soil of the studied area belonged to fragment and film-shaped particles, respectively, and the most abundant color was white. Indiscriminate use of plastics, especially single-use plastics, lack of attention to the hierarchy of waste management, as well as the lack of proper management of the landfill and turning it into a waste dump, are among the most important reasons for the presence of macro, meso, and MPs in the soil of the studied landfill.
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