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Microplastics in Landfill and Leachate
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This chapter comprehensively reviewed microplastic sources, concentrations, transport pathways, and removal techniques within landfills and their leachate — a heavily overlooked but significant vector for microplastic release into surrounding soils and waterways. Landfills act as long-term reservoirs that continuously leach microplastics into groundwater and surface water, making leachate treatment a critical and underaddressed frontier in pollution control.
This chapter comprehensively examines the current literature on microplastics (MPs) in landfills and leachate, focusing on sources, occurrence, characteristics, fate, transport mechanisms, environmental implications, and removal techniques. Landfills serve as...
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Microplastics in Landfill Leachate: Sources, Potential Impacts, and Remediation Technologies
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Researchers reviewed microplastic contamination in landfill leachate, documenting concentrations ranging from 0.16 to 33,213 items per liter globally and showing how these particles migrate into soil, groundwater, and surface water, while remediation technologies can achieve removal efficiencies up to 99%.
Microplastics in a solid waste landfill in Japan: concentrations in landfilled waste, cover soil, rainwater and leachate
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Researchers studied a Japanese landfill and found microplastics throughout cover soils and rainwater sediments, but very few in treated leachate, suggesting that while landfills concentrate plastic particles, proper leachate treatment can prevent them from escaping into groundwater.
From trash to tap: assessment of microplastics contamination in leachate and groundwater
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Researchers traced microplastics from landfill leachate into surrounding groundwater, finding up to 77 plastic particles per liter in drinking water sources near a dumpsite in India. The findings reveal that landfills are an underappreciated source of microplastic contamination in groundwater, posing a direct threat to communities relying on wells near waste disposal sites.
Micro/Nanoplastics Pollution from Landfill Sites: A Comprehensive Review on the Formation, Distribution, Effects and Potential Mitigation
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This comprehensive review examined how landfills generate and release micro- and nanoplastics through UV exposure, mechanical stress, and biological degradation, distributing particles through leachate into groundwater and via wind into surrounding air and soil. Landfills are underrecognized chronic sources of microplastic emissions that contaminate local water supplies and agricultural soils, creating persistent exposure risks for communities living near waste disposal sites.
Leachate from Non-Sanitary Waste Dumpsites as a Major Source of Microplastics: Identification, Characterization, and Ecological Risk Assessment
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Researchers analyzed leachate from three uncontrolled waste dumpsites in Iran and found microplastic concentrations averaging up to 205 particles per liter, with polyamide and polypropylene as the dominant types and very high ecological risk scores. The study underscores how unregulated waste disposal in developing countries is a significant and underappreciated pathway for microplastics entering freshwater and soil environments.
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.