Papers

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Article Tier 2

Plastic 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.

2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 274 citations
Article Tier 2

The evolution and fate of waste plastics in landfills subject to physical and biochemical processes - implications for microplastics

This review examines how plastic waste in landfills is physically and biochemically transformed over time, with a focus on the conditions that generate microplastics from buried macroplastics. The authors explore implications for microplastic leaching and environmental contamination from landfill sites.

2024
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Journal of Environmental Management 56 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Emerging contaminants
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Chemosphere 106 citations
Review Tier 2

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.

2023 Chemistry and Ecology 15 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Journal of Environmental Management 33 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 1 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in landfill leachate: Sources, detection, occurrence, and removal

This review examines how landfills have become a significant source of microplastics entering the environment through leachate -- the liquid that seeps out of waste. Polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene are the most common microplastics found in landfill leachate, and while treatment can remove up to 100% of them, many facilities are not yet equipped to filter these particles before they contaminate surrounding water sources.

2023 Environmental Science and Ecotechnology 207 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in landfill leachates: The need for reconnaissance studies and remediation technologies

Researchers reviewed studies on microplastics in landfill leachate — the liquid that drains through waste — finding concentrations up to 291 particles per liter that can be reduced by treatment but never fully eliminated. The study argues that landfills are an underappreciated source of microplastic pollution and urges development of better containment and removal technologies.

2020 Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering 172 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastics in Landfills: A Comprehensive Review on Occurrence, Characteristics and Pathways to the Aquatic Environment

This comprehensive review examines the occurrence, characteristics, and transport pathways of microplastics in and from landfills, identifying leachate, wind dispersal, and runoff as key vectors by which landfill-derived microplastics migrate into aquatic environments.

2021 Nature Environment and Pollution Technology 36 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Water 27 citations
Review Tier 2

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.

2025 Environmental Health Engineering and Management
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in landfill leachate: Sources, abundance, characteristics, remediation approaches and future perspective

This review examines the sources, abundance, and characteristics of microplastics found in landfill leachate, a difficult-to-treat waste liquid that can carry pollutants into the environment. The authors highlight the urgent need for standardized microplastic analysis methods and more research into cost-effective approaches for removing microplastics from leachate before it reaches waterways.

2024 Desalination and Water Treatment 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Vulnerability of microplastics on marine environment: A review

Researchers reviewed the sources, spread, and ecological impacts of microplastics in marine environments, finding that about 80% originate from land-based sources like tire wear, skincare products, and improperly disposed plastics. The review emphasizes that microplastic ingestion damages marine organisms' digestive systems and calls for urgent research and policy action.

2023 Ecological Indicators 86 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Environmental engineering 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Katı Atık Depolama Sahası Sızıntı Sularında Mikroplastik Kirliliği

This paper examines microplastic contamination in leachate from solid waste landfill sites, reviewing evidence that landfills are an underappreciated source of microplastics reaching soils, groundwater, and surface water. As plastics in landfills degrade and fragment over time, leachate carries microplastic particles into surrounding environments. The review highlights the need for more studies to quantify and regulate this pathway of microplastic release.

2024 Düzce Üniversitesi Bilim ve Teknoloji Dergisi 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in different municipal solid waste treatment and disposal systems: Do they pose environmental risks?

This review summarizes how microplastics behave in different waste treatment systems, including landfills, composting facilities, and incinerators. The researchers found that all of these systems can release microplastics into surrounding soil, water, and air, posing ecological risks. The findings highlight that even our waste management methods are contributing to microplastic pollution, which can ultimately affect human exposure.

2024 Water Research 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Sources, health risks, environmental implications, and management strategies of microplastics with a focus on landfill leachate

This review examines microplastics in landfill leachate as a significant but underappreciated source of environmental contamination, covering detection methods, particle characteristics (type, size, color, shape), and the health and environmental risks of landfill leachate that enters groundwater and surface water.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: Notes on Recycling, Waste, and Environmental Prevalence.

This review discusses the sources, environmental prevalence, and health risks of microplastics, noting that about 40% of single-use plastics end up in land and waterways where they degrade into micro- and nano-sized particles. The paper highlights mechanisms by which microplastics enter living organisms and their potential links to cell injury, hormone disruption, and cardiovascular disease.

2025 International Journal of Scientific Research and Management (IJSRM)
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Sustainability 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill: A source of microplastics? -Evidence of microplastics in landfill leachate

Leachate from four active and two closed municipal solid waste landfills was analyzed for microplastics, finding 0.42–24.58 items/L across all 12 samples with 17 polymer types identified and polyethylene and polypropylene as dominant types. The study provides direct evidence that landfills release microplastics to the environment through leachate and identifies them as a significant but understudied pollution source.

2019 Water Research 827 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Avicenna Journal of Environmental Health Engineering