Investigation and analysis of microplastics in sewage sludge and biosolids: A case study from one wastewater treatment works in the UK (article)

There is an increasing concern about the impact of microplastic pollution in the terrestrial environment. Identifying sources, pathways and sinks of terrestrial microplastics is crucial to determining environmental exposure and applying efficient intervention measures. In the UK alone, 3.5 million tonnes (wet weight) of biosolids from the wastewater industry are recycled each year to agricultural land, raising the possibility that recycling of biosolids to agricultural land could be a significant source of microplastic pollution to the terrestrial environment. To address this issue, the present study determined the presence of microplastics from across the whole sludge treatment stream from one exemplar wastewater treatment works in the UK. Both sewage sludge (a liquid by-product produced from the wastewater treatment processes that has not received treatment) and biosolids (sewage sludge that has undergone a treatment process) were examined as a source of microplastics to the terrestrial environment. Microplastics were detected in all samples taken from across the treatment process with concentrations ranging from 37.7-286.5 number of microplastics/g of sludge (dry weight). The microplastic load in the final biosolid products produced at the site ranged from 37.7-97.2 number of microplastic/g of sludge (dry weight). The wastewater treatment works in this study produces 900 tonnes of anaerobically digested sludge cake and 690 tonnes of lime stabilised cake per month. Based on the results from this study, application of these biosolids to agricultural land as fertiliser will deliver 1.61 × 1010 and 1.02 × 1010 microplastics (equivalent to the same volume as >20,000 plastic bank cards) in anaerobically digested and lime stabilised sludge respectively, every month, illustrating the extent to which microplastics may enter the terrestrial environment through this route.