We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
The “plastic cycle”: a watershed‐scale model of plastic pools and fluxes
AI summary Read the abstract
This paper presented a watershed-scale conceptual model of plastic sources, fluxes, and fates — including landfill containment, environmental persistence, atmospheric interactions, and ocean export — arguing that terrestrial and freshwater plastic stocks are severely underappreciated in global accounting.
Research on plastics in global ecosystems is rapidly evolving. Oceans have been the primary focus of studies to date, whereas rivers are generally considered little more than conduits of plastics to marine ecosystems. Within a watershed, however, plastics of all sizes are retained, transformed, and even extracted via freshwater use or litter cleanup. As such, plastic litter in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems is an important but underappreciated component of global plastic pollution. To gain a holistic perspective, we developed a conceptual model that synthesizes all sources, fluxes, and fates for plastics in a watershed, including containment (ie disposed in landfill), non‐containment (ie persists as environmental pollution), mineralization, export to oceans, atmospheric interactions, and freshwater extraction. We used this model of the “plastic cycle” to illustrate which components have received the most scientific attention and to reveal overlooked pathways. Our main objective is for this framework to inform future research, offer a new perspective to adapt management across diverse waste governance scenarios, and improve global models of plastic litter.
More Papers Like This
A mass budget and box model of global plastics cycling, fragmentation and dispersal in the land-ocean-atmosphere system
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers constructed a global mass budget and box model tracking plastic polymer flows from production through fragmentation into microplastics across land, ocean, and atmosphere. The model suggests ocean microplastic stocks are much larger than surface measurements indicate, and that atmospheric transport plays a significant role in redistribution of marine-derived microplastics.
A catchment‐scale perspective of plastic pollution
AI summary Read the abstract
This review framed plastic pollution from a catchment-scale perspective, synthesizing evidence on plastic sources, transport dynamics, and effects across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments within river drainage basins. The authors find that rivers are hotspots for plastic pollution and pivotal conduits to the ocean, and call for integrated catchment-level management rather than environment-by-environment approaches.
The Microplastic Cycle: An Introduction to a Complex Issue
AI summary Read the abstract
This study introduces and expands the microplastic cycle concept as a framework for understanding how plastic particles move across ecosystem reservoirs, connecting source-receptor models with the fate, transport, and effects of plastic pollution.
River plastic transport and storage budget.
AI summary Read the abstract
This global synthesis estimated the plastic transport and storage budget for rivers by measuring plastic in the water surface, water column, riverbanks, and floodplains — finding that far more plastic is stored within rivers than is transported to the ocean. The study challenges the assumption that rivers are primarily conduits and highlights them as major long-term plastic reservoirs.
A mass budget and box model of global plastics cycling, degradation and dispersal in the land-ocean-atmosphere system
AI summary Read the abstract
This study developed a mass budget and box model to trace the global cycling, degradation, and dispersal of plastics across environmental compartments over time, estimating how plastic accumulates in ocean surface waters, deep sea, beaches, and soils. The model predicted that most plastic entering the ocean ultimately settles in sediments rather than persisting at the surface.
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.