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Widespread microplastic contamination in Australian soils: Sources, pathways, and environmental implications
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The first multi-land-use soil microplastic survey across Victoria and New South Wales, Australia found a mean concentration of 14,400 microplastics/kg soil, with most particles in the 10–100 µm size range and dominated by ABS, polycarbonate, polyethylene, and polyurethane polymers. The high concentrations and wide geographic spread confirm that Australian agricultural and urban soils are substantially contaminated, with implications for soil health, food crops, and wildlife that forage in or ingest soil.
Microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment, capable of long-range transport via rainfall, waterbodies, wind, and snow, and often carry other emerging contaminants on their surface, as well as additives within their own structure. This makes them persistent, bioaccumulative, and potentially toxic. This study represents the first survey of multiple land use settings in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. A total of 55 soil samples were analysed for 13 different polymers in the 10-1000 μm size range, using foam fractionation to separate microplastic particles from the soil. The mean abundance was 14,400 ± 20,000 microplastics/kg, with a median of 4200 microplastics/kg (range: 0-90,200 microplastics/kg). Most of the particles were between 10 and 100 μm, with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene (PE), and polyurethane (PU) being the most prominent polymers. The microplastic particle morphologies were dominated by fragments (38 %) and pellets (27 %), with the remaining consisting of spheres, films, foams and fibres.
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This review examines microplastic pollution levels across agricultural, roadside, urban, and landfill soils worldwide, finding wide variation but consistent contamination. Microplastics alter soil pH, density, and water movement, disrupt microbial communities, inhibit plant growth, and affect soil animals. For humans, the concern is that microplastics in soil can enter the food chain through crops and contaminated water.
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Researchers synthesized evidence on microplastic occurrence across land uses — croplands, urban areas, industrial zones, and remote environments — finding consistently higher concentrations near intensive human activity, vertical enrichment in topsoils, and widespread ecological effects on soil structure, microbial communities, and plant and invertebrate health.
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Researchers sampled soils across residential, commercial, and industrial land-use types in urban areas and found microplastics in every location, with polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyamide as the dominant polymer types, at concentrations up to 850,000 particles per kilogram. Heavy metals were also associated with the plastic particles, meaning microplastics in urban soil may serve as combined carriers of chemical toxicants. The findings highlight urban soil as a major but underappreciated reservoir of microplastic pollution.
Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review
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This global review synthesized data from studies on microplastic concentrations in soils worldwide, finding contamination across diverse terrestrial environments with higher levels near urban areas and agricultural land. Terrestrial soils are estimated to contain far more microplastic than the world's oceans, making them a critical but understudied reservoir of plastic pollution.
Sources, environmental fate, and impacts of microplastic contamination in agricultural soils: A comprehensive review
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