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Open Dumping and Burning: an Overlooked Source of Terrestrial Microplastics in Underserved Communities
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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.
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Emerging investigator series: open dumping and burning: an overlooked source of terrestrial microplastics in underserved communities
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