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Australians are washing microplastics down the drain and it’s ending up on our farms
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Researchers sampled sewage sludge from 13 Australian wastewater treatment plants and found that microplastics routinely survive treatment and are spread onto farmland when dried sludge is used as fertilizer. The study estimates that every resident contributes to this pathway, making biosolid application a major route for agricultural microplastic contamination.
We sampled sewage sludge from 13 wastewater treatment plants across three states. We found every resident adds microplastics to farmland, in dried sewage sludge (biosolids) used as fertiliser.
More Papers Like This
How microplastics are making their way into our farmland
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This commentary argues that wastewater treatment plants are a primary pathway for microplastics entering Canadian farmland through biosolid application, calling for closer monitoring and reduction of microplastics in the wastewater stream. Agricultural soil microplastic accumulation is a growing concern because it contaminates crops, disrupts soil ecosystems, and creates a diffuse pathway for plastic particles to enter the human food supply.
More than 1,200 tonnes of microplastics are dumped into Aussie farmland every year from wastewater sludge
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Researchers estimated that more than 1,200 tonnes of microplastics are applied to Australian farmland every year through treated wastewater sludge used as fertilizer. The findings add to growing evidence that biosolids are a major pathway for microplastic contamination of agricultural soil and, ultimately, the food supply.
Microplastics in Crops
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics accumulate in agricultural soils and are taken up by crop plants, raising food safety concerns as these particles and their associated chemical contaminants may enter the human food supply through plant consumption.
Microplastics are in our fertilisers and soils, yet we know next to nothing about their environmental and health impacts
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers highlighted that microplastics are routinely present in both synthetic and organic fertilizers, meaning they are being directly applied to farmland worldwide, yet almost nothing is known about how this contaminates food crops or affects the health of people who eat them.
Unravelling the emerging threats of microplastics to agroecosystems
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This review synthesizes evidence that microplastics accumulate in agricultural soils from multiple pathways, disrupting soil physical and chemical properties, shifting rhizosphere microbial communities, and potentially entering plants through water and nutrient uptake channels. Because most microplastic research has focused on aquatic systems, the effects of soil MP contamination on crop yield, food quality, and long-term agricultural sustainability remain critically underexplored.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.