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Assessing on-site plastics fragmentation: Linking macroplastics litter to microplastics pollution in vegetable fields
Summary
A field study across 37 vegetable farms in Chile found that most soil microplastics did not color-match the macroplastic waste present on the same farms, indicating that the majority of plastic pollution blows or washes in from external sources rather than originating from on-site farming practices. The approach — correlating the colors of macro- and microplastics without lab equipment — offers a simple and affordable screening tool for identifying whether individual farms are plastic pollution sources or recipients.
This study proposes a novel approach to determine whether farmers act as a pollution source of microplastics through macroplastic mismanagement or if they are temporary hosts of in-transit microplastics. Using a case-study approach, it was hypothesized that 90 % of soil microplastics would trace back to macroplastic waste mismanaged by farmers. To determine the amount of soil microplastics, linear transects were established and microplastic litter was counted and classified. Additionally, composite soil samples were used to count and colour-classify microplastics. The Kendall correlation was used to differentiate between the colour ranks of macro- and microplastics to discriminate between plastic on-site fragmentation or exogenous plastic pollution. For this, 37 vegetable farms in central Chile were assessed after the growing season. Farms showed lower microplastic counts than previously reported for similar productive conditions (3.68 ± 3.28 u/kg). A median colour correlation of 0.43 (IQR = 0.18-0.55) was observed between macro- and microplastics. Only in 25 % of the studied fields did on-site plastic fragmentation predominate over exogenous plastic pollution. The applied approach is simple to implement and does not require specialized laboratory equipment. We hope that the proposed methodology will serve in environmental monitoring to evaluate adherence to good agricultural practices and to guide pollution-prevention measures.