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Microplastics in Soil and Water
Summary
This review chapter summarizes how microplastics in soil and water act as transporters for other dangerous pollutants, including antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, and heavy metals. Because microplastics do not break down, these hitchhiking contaminants can travel far from their source and accumulate in plants, animals, and humans. The finding that microplastics also host microbial communities that alter pollutant behaviour adds another layer of complexity to understanding environmental contamination.
Nowadays, microplastics are common pollutants both in water and soil. Many studies have been conducted on concentrations in these environments, and fewer studies have focused on their role as vectors of other pollutants. Microplastics present in water and soil can adsorb many other micropollutants such as antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals, PAHs, PCBs, or heavy metals. With nondegradable microplastics, the micropollutants mentioned previously can be transported over long distances, accumulated in living organisms, or desorbed. Microplastics can also be a base for the growth of microorganisms, which affects the fates of micropollutants in the environment. The chapter focuses on microplastics as a vector of other micropollutants in the water and soil environment, including effects on living organisms: plants, animals, and humans.
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