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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to The evolution and fate of waste plastics in landfills subject to physical and biochemical processes - implications for microplastics
ClearPlastic Waste Degradation in Landfill Conditions: The Problem with Microplastics, and Their Direct and Indirect Environmental Effects
This review examined the degradation of plastic waste in landfill conditions and the resulting formation and spread of microplastics. The study highlights that both active and former landfills are ongoing sources of microplastic contamination through leachate and gaseous emissions, and that biological, chemical, and physical processes in landfills break down plastic waste into smaller particles that can enter surrounding environments.
Effect of landfill age on the physical and chemical characteristics of waste plastics/microplastics in a waste landfill sites
Researchers examined how landfill age affects waste plastic degradation, finding that older landfills contained smaller, more fragmented microplastics with increased surface oxidation and crystallinity changes, revealing the progressive breakdown pathway of plastics in landfill environments.
Microplastics as emergent contaminants in landfill leachate: Source, potential impact and remediation technologies
This review examines how landfills generate microplastics as buried plastic waste gradually degrades from physical, chemical, and biological processes. These microplastics enter the environment through leachate, the contaminated liquid that seeps from landfills into surrounding soil and groundwater. The authors evaluate current remediation technologies and highlight the need for better landfill management to reduce this growing source of microplastic pollution.
Leachate from municipal solid waste landfills: A neglected source of microplastics in the environment
This review identified municipal solid waste landfills as a significant but neglected source of microplastics in the environment, explaining how physical compression, chemical oxidation, and biological decomposition of buried plastics generate microplastics that migrate via leachate into surrounding soils and water.
Dynamic formation of microplastics from plastic waste in landfill leachate pressure-bearing zone
Laboratory experiments tracked how microplastics form dynamically from larger plastic waste in landfill conditions over time. The study helps quantify the landfill as a long-term source of secondary microplastic generation and potential leaching into surrounding soils and groundwater.
Landfills as a potential source and origin of microplastics: Formation, composition, and environmental risks
This review examines how landfills serve as both sinks and continuous sources of microplastic pollution, with an estimated 21-42% of all plastics ever produced stored in landfills worldwide. Researchers found that physical, chemical, and biological processes within landfills break down plastic waste into microplastics that can leach into surrounding environments. The study highlights that these microplastics also carry other hazardous pollutants like heavy metals and persistent organic chemicals, amplifying their environmental threat.
Microplastics in Landfill Bodies: Abundance, Spatial Distribution and Effect of Landfill Age
Researchers examined microplastic distribution in landfill refuse across different age sections, finding that older landfill areas contain higher microplastic abundances, demonstrating that plastic waste progressively fragments into microplastics during long-term burial.
Evolution and associated environmental pollution risks of micro- and nanoplastics through landfill processes
Researchers reviewed how landfills — the world's primary destination for plastic waste — generate and release micro- and nanoplastics (tiny plastic fragments under 5mm and 1 micron) into surrounding soil, water, and air. The review highlights that landfill mining and remediation activities can actually accelerate the release of these particles, complicating pollution control.
Microplastics in landfill leachate - characteristics and common methods of identification
This review characterized microplastics in landfill leachate, covering their physical and chemical properties and the common analytical methods used for identification. Around 40% of global plastic waste ends up in landfills, making leachate a significant but understudied pathway for microplastic release into groundwater and surrounding environments.
Risk assessment of microplastics contamination in soil and leachate from different ages of landfill
Researchers assessed microplastic contamination in soils and leachate collection ponds at a landfill site in Thailand, examining how the physical and chemical characteristics of microplastics — including abundance, morphology, size, and polymer type — evolve across landfill sections of different ages. The study found that microplastic properties change significantly with landfill age, highlighting landfills as important sources of environmental microplastic pollution with implications for leachate treatment.
Microplastics in Landfill Leachate
This review examines microplastic contamination in landfill leachate, the liquid that drains from landfills and can contaminate groundwater and surface water. Landfills are major reservoirs of plastic waste that generate microplastics through physical and chemical breakdown, representing a significant but often overlooked contamination pathway.
Microplastics in landfill leachate: Occurrence, health concerns, and removal strategies
This review examines how microplastics form and accumulate in landfill leachate, the liquid that drains from waste sites. As plastic waste breaks down in landfills, it releases microplastic particles that can contaminate surrounding soil and water. The authors assess health concerns from leachate-borne microplastics and evaluate removal strategies, highlighting an often-overlooked pathway for microplastic pollution.
Microplastics in landfill and leachate: Occurrence, environmental behavior and removal strategies
This review examines how microplastics form and accumulate in landfills and their leachate, which is the liquid that drains from waste sites. Researchers found that landfill leachate is an overlooked source of microplastic pollution that can carry toxic substances and antibiotic resistance genes into the surrounding environment. The study evaluates current removal strategies and calls for better treatment systems to prevent microplastic contamination from waste disposal sites.
Microplastics and Their Distribution in Soil at Municipal Solid Waste Landfills: A Review
This review investigated microplastic contamination across soil layers at urban municipal solid waste landfill sites, finding that landfill age and waste composition influence MP type and distribution. It identified landfill soils as understudied long-term MP reservoirs with potential for leaching into surrounding environments.
A review on microplastics in landfill leachate: formation, occurrence, detection, and removal techniques
This review examined microplastics in landfill leachate, covering their formation from degrading plastic waste, reported concentrations in leachate, detection methods, and available removal technologies. The authors identify landfill leachate as a significant and underregulated source of microplastic release into surrounding environments.
Occurrence of microplastics in landfill systems and their fate with landfill age
Microplastics were characterized in leachate and refuse from Shanghai landfills of varying ages (3–20 years), finding average concentrations of 8 items/L in leachate and 62 items/g in refuse, with fiber/cellophane dominant in leachate and fragment/polyethylene in refuse. The study identifies landfills as important but understudied sources of microplastic pollution in the environment.
Degradation of excavated polyethylene and polypropylene waste from landfill
Researchers examined plastic waste (polyethylene and polypropylene) dug up from landfills and found that plastics buried for more than 10 years showed significant chemical and structural changes, including higher oxidation levels and increased crystallinity. Their findings suggest that converting old landfill plastic into pyrolysis oil is a better recycling option than mechanical reprocessing for heavily degraded material.
Biodegradation of plastic wastes under semi-aerobic condition with active methane oxidation activities and nutrient supply
Researchers tested biodegradation of plastic wastes under semi-aerobic landfill conditions, finding that polymer type and landfill conditions strongly influenced degradation rates and the generation of microplastic fragments. The study contributes to understanding how managed disposal sites affect long-term plastic persistence.
The Biodegradation of Plastic by Microorganisms
This review examines how the chemical composition of plastics influences their susceptibility to biodegradation by microorganisms, discussing the diverse biophysical-chemical properties of synthetic polymers that affect microbial degradation rates across different environmental contexts.
Property changes of conventional plastic waste mixed with municipal solid waste after 10-year degradation experiments simulating landfill conditions
Researchers excavated plastic waste from four Chinese landfills after 10 years of burial and measured how its properties had changed. The plastics showed significant physical degradation — becoming more brittle, discolored, and cracked — but were not biologically degraded. This means buried plastic waste is a long-term source of secondary microplastics that will continue to fragment over time even when landfilled.
Booming microplastics generation in landfill: An exponential evolution process under temporal pattern
Researchers tracked microplastic generation in a landfill over 30-plus years, finding that MP abundance increased exponentially with the age of deposited waste rather than linearly. The exponential growth pattern suggests that aging landfills are accelerating sources of microplastic release into surrounding soils and leachate.
Biodegradation of macro- and micro-plastics in environment: A review on mechanism, toxicity, and future perspectives.
This review examined mechanisms, toxicology, and future perspectives for biodegradation of macro- and micro-plastics, cataloguing microbial species capable of polymer degradation, discussing enzymatic pathways, and identifying key limitations including slow degradation rates and the need for pretreatment to accelerate breakdown in environmental settings.
Microplastic contamination and accumulation in municipal solid waste: A global review of sources, pathways, and impacts
This global review examines microplastic contamination in municipal solid waste, covering sources from landfills, sewage sludge, compost, and food waste, and how plastic particles from these land-based waste streams enter soil, groundwater, and eventually the food chain.
Microplastics in Landfill Leachate: A Comprehensive Review on Characteristics, Detection, and Their Fates during Advanced Oxidation Processes
This review synthesizes findings on microplastics in landfill leachate, identifying it as an underappreciated environmental source of microplastic contamination generated by physical, chemical, and biological breakdown of plastic waste. The authors outline characteristics, detection methods, and pathways by which leachate-borne microplastics enter the broader environment.