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Soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces worldwide
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A global study found that soil contamination in natural areas is just as bad as in nearby urban green spaces, with similar levels of heavy metals, pesticides, microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes. Human activity was the main driver of contamination regardless of whether the area was urban or natural. The findings show that microplastic pollution and other contaminants have spread far beyond cities, potentially affecting soil health and the food grown in these areas.
Soil contamination is one of the main threats to ecosystem health and sustainability. Yet little is known about the extent to which soil contaminants differ between urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems. Here we show that urban greenspaces and adjacent natural areas (i.e., natural/semi-natural ecosystems) shared similar levels of multiple soil contaminants (metal(loid)s, pesticides, microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes) across the globe. We reveal that human influence explained many forms of soil contamination worldwide. Socio-economic factors were integral to explaining the occurrence of soil contaminants worldwide. We further show that increased levels of multiple soil contaminants were linked with changes in microbial traits including genes associated with environmental stress resistance, nutrient cycling, and pathogenesis. Taken together, our work demonstrates that human-driven soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces globally, and highlights that soil contaminants have the potential to cause dire consequences for ecosystem sustainability and human wellbeing.
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Global concentrations of microplastic in soils, a review
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This global review synthesized data from studies on microplastic concentrations in soils worldwide, finding contamination across diverse terrestrial environments with higher levels near urban areas and agricultural land. Terrestrial soils are estimated to contain far more microplastic than the world's oceans, making them a critical but understudied reservoir of plastic pollution.
[Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Microplastic Contamination in Soil and Influencing Factors: A Global Analysis].
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Microplastic pollution in soil has spiked since 2015 as global plastic production soared, and surprisingly, forests and unused land often have more contamination than farmland or cities—showing plastic waste travels far beyond where it's dumped. Since soil microplastics can work their way into crops, groundwater, and eventually our food supply, this matters for everyone, not just people living near factories or farms; the researchers pinpoint farming and industrial activity as the biggest culprits, pointing to where cleanup efforts should focus first.
Impacts of microplastics and urbanization on soil health: An urgent concern for sustainable development
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics and urbanization together degrade soil health — disrupting soil biology, contaminating food chains, and creating compounding risks beyond what either factor causes alone. The study calls for urgent management strategies including reducing plastic use, sustainable urban planning, and active soil restoration.
Anthropogenic-vegetation dual controls on the hotspots of microplastic pollution in urban green space soil
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Researchers investigated microplastic and phthalate ester contamination in urban green space soils across diverse land uses in Guangzhou, China, finding average MP abundances of 2,117 items/kg with significant spatial variability. Residential areas, street edges, and heavily trafficked zones were identified as hotspots, with both human activity and vegetation type driving contamination patterns.
Microplastic Composition in Soils Reflects Anthropogenic Inputs Across Contrasting Land Uses
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Researchers tested soils from cities, farmland, grassland and forests, finding microplastics in every sample, with city soils most contaminated. The main plastics found were PE, PP and PVC, and their mix differed from compost and sewage sludge samples, suggesting soil plastic types partly reflect these waste sources alongside other local factors.
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