Distribution et comportement de débris plastiques dans un sol agricole amendé en compost de déchets ménagers

Plastic waste is accumulating in all environmental compartments, and its presence is of great interest to the scientific community. However, plastic waste study in soils is only very recent compared to rivers and oceans. This PhD work therefore focused on the behaviour of micro- and nanoplastics and associated contaminants from the composting of household waste enriched with plastic debris in agricultural soil. The microplastics collected in soil have an advanced degree of weathering that favours the release of small plastic particles such as nanoplastics. In order to identify them, an extraction/identification method was developed and highlighted for the first time, the presence of nanoplastics containing the three most common polymers in the uppermost soil surface layer. It was then demonstrated that these nanoplastics were present in the mineral layers at depth, whereas the microplastics were only present at ploughing depth. Nanoplastics are therefore mobile in soils and can reach the underlying groundwaters. Finally, the role of plastic waste in the concomitant metal contamination found in soil was investigated. The highest concentrations correspond to metals used as additives in the formulation of plastics, but the plastic role could not be implicated with certainty in soil contamination. However, metals and their isotopic signatures are good candidates for tracing nanoplastics in complex natural matrices.