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Microplastics in fine fraction of biologically treated waste
Summary
Researchers investigated microplastic contamination in fine fractions of biologically treated waste from a landfill and composting facilities in Estonia and Lithuania. Microplastics were detected in all samples, raising concerns about plastic contamination in materials used as soil amendments. The study highlights that biological waste treatment does not remove microplastics and may spread them to agricultural soils.
Recently, microplastics have become widely distributed in the environment, so its extraction and identification according to the specific type of plastics has become an important object of research. Scientists and engineers have proposed several different methods for extraction of microplastics. In this work, microplastics were detected and identified in the small fraction of Torma landfill (Estonia), in the compost obtained at the Kaunas green waste composting facility and in the waste aerobic treatment products obtained at Kaunas waste mechanical-biological treatment facility. During the research, the methodology for the separation of different types of plastic Microparticles from waste fine fraction was improved.