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Open Dumping and Burning: an Overlooked Source of Terrestrial Microplastics in Underserved Communities
Summary
Researchers measured microplastic concentrations in soils at three open dump and burn sites in underserved communities in Oklahoma and Montana, extracting and characterizing particles at two soil depths using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. They found 35,000 to 69,200 microplastic particles per kilogram of soil — concentrations equaling or exceeding those from biosolid application — with polyethylene dominating (46.2%-84.8%) and thermally oxidized burned particles comprising 76.3-96.9% of particles at community-wide sites.
Open dumping and burning of solid waste are widely practiced in underserved communities lacking access to solid waste management facilities; however, the generation of microplastics from these sites has been overlooked. We report elevated concentrations of microplastics (MPs) in soil of three solid waste open dump and burn sites: a single-family site in Tuttle, Oklahoma, USA, and two community-wide sites in Crow Agency and Lodge Grass, Montana, USA. We extracted, quantified, and characterized MPs from two soil depths (0-9 cm and 9-18 cm). The abundance of particles found at the three sites (35,000 to 69,200 particles kg-1 soil) equals or exceeds reported concentrations from currently understood sources of MPs including biosolids application and other agricultural practices. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transformed infrared (ATR-FTIR) identified polyethylene as the dominant polymer across all sites (46.2%-84.8%). We also detected rayon (≤11.5%), polystyrene (up to 11.5%), polyethylene terephthalate (≤5.1), polyvinyl chloride (≤4.4%), polyester (≤3.1), and acrylic (≤2.2%). Burned MPs accounted for 76.3 to 96.9% of the MPs found in both community wide dumping sites. These results indicate that solid waste dumping and burning activities are a major source of thermally oxidized MPs for the surrounding terrestrial environment with potential to negatively affect underserved communities.