Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review on polymer degradation: Mechanisms, environmental implications, and sustainable mitigation strategies

This comprehensive review examined the different ways plastics break down in the environment, including through heat, sunlight, chemical reactions, and biological processes. Researchers highlighted how polymer degradation leads to microplastic pollution, ecosystem disruption, and potential health risks for both wildlife and humans. The study emphasizes that biodegradable plastics, improved recycling, and better stabilization techniques are needed to manage plastic waste more sustainably.

2025 Communication in Physical Sciences 3 citations
Article Tier 2

The impact of microplastic weathering on interactions with the soil environment: a review

This review examines how weathering — exposure to UV light, moisture, and physical forces — changes the surface properties of microplastics and affects their interactions with soil. Weathered microplastics behave differently in the environment, potentially altering soil structure and the movement of water and nutrients.

2021 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Degradation and Recycling of Polymer Materials

This review synthesizes research on the degradation and recycling of polymer materials, covering microplastic formation, recycling strategies, and plastic degradation mechanisms as responses to the significant environmental damage caused by discarded plastics in ocean and other ecosystems.

2025
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review on polymer degradation: Mechanisms, environmental implications, and sustainable mitigation strategies

This comprehensive review examined polymer degradation mechanisms including thermal, photo, oxidative, hydrolytic, and biodegradation processes and their environmental implications. The study discussed how these degradation pathways generate microplastic pollution and contribute to ecosystem disruption, while evaluating sustainable mitigation strategies such as biodegradable polymers, advanced recycling, and stabilization techniques.

2025 Communication in Physical Sciences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic particles in soil: state of the knowledge on sources, occurrence and distribution, analytical methods and ecological impacts

This comprehensive review of plastic particles in soil covered sources, occurrence, analytical detection methods, and ecological impacts, identifying gaps in knowledge about terrestrial plastic fate and effects compared to the more extensively studied marine environment.

2021 Environmental Science Processes & Impacts 121 citations
Article Tier 2

Role of Humic Substances in the (Bio)Degradation of Synthetic Polymers under Environmental Conditions

This review examines the role of humic substances -- major components of soil organic matter -- in the degradation of synthetic polymers under environmental conditions. The authors discuss how humic substances mediate chemical and biological breakdown of plastics, influencing the formation and persistence of microplastics in soils and aquatic systems.

2024 Microorganisms 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable plastics in the air and soil environment: Low degradation rate and high microplastics formation

Researchers compared the degradation rates of various biodegradable plastic types in natural air and soil environments over time, finding that most degraded slowly under ambient conditions and generated substantial microplastic fragments, with non-certified biodegradable plastics showing essentially no degradation.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 232 citations
Article Tier 2

Review on the Biological Degradation of Polymers in Various Environments

This review provides an overview of how biodegradable plastics degrade under different environmental conditions including soil, freshwater, marine, and composting environments. It finds that biodegradability is a material property strongly dependent on environmental conditions, and that many so-called biodegradable plastics degrade far more slowly in nature than in controlled test conditions.

2020 Materials 196 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025
Article Tier 2

Micro Plastic Pollution in Soil Environment: A Comprehensive Review

This comprehensive review covers sources, distribution, degradation pathways, and ecological effects of microplastics in soil environments, highlighting threats to soil fauna, microbiota, and plant growth.

2024 Journal of Scientific Research and Reports 1 citations
Article Tier 2

A Review on Natural Biodegradation of Plastics

This review examines the natural biodegradation of plastics in soil and water environments by microorganisms and photochemical processes, discussing why conventional disposal methods are insufficient for addressing the growing global plastic waste problem. The paper distinguishes between plastics that are highly sensitive to microbial degradation and those that remain stable in natural environments, reviewing the mechanisms and limitations of biological breakdown.

2022 International Journal of Polymer and Textile Engineering
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

A Mini Review on Recent Insight into Degradation of Environmental Plastics

This mini-review summarizes current knowledge on how plastics break down in the environment to form microplastics, covering mechanical, photochemical, thermal, and biological degradation pathways, and identifies key gaps in understanding how environmental conditions and plastic properties influence degradation rates.

2023 International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research 1 citations
Review Tier 2

[Interaction between microplastics and microorganisms in soil environment: a review].

This review examines how microplastics alter soil microbial community structure and diversity, and how microorganisms in turn colonize plastic surfaces and degrade them through extracellular enzymes — with degradation efficiency dependent on polymer properties and environmental conditions.

2023 PubMed 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Razgradnja mikroplastike v okolju

This review examines the degradation of microplastics in the environment, explaining how the rate of polymer breakdown is governed by intrinsic material properties -- including chemical structure, molecular weight, crystallinity, and additives -- alongside environmental factors such as UV radiation, temperature, humidity, and the specific matrix in which the plastic resides.

2024 RUNG
Article Tier 2

Occurrence, Degradation, and Effect of Polymer-Based Materials in the Environment

This review covers the occurrence, environmental degradation, and ecological effects of polymer-based materials across terrestrial and aquatic environments, including both conventional and biodegradable plastics. It highlights the chemical complexity of plastics — including additives and degradation products — as a key factor determining environmental risk beyond just the physical presence of particles.

2013 Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 311 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Unravelling the ecological ramifications of biodegradable microplastics in soil environment: A systematic review

Researchers reviewed 85 studies on biodegradable microplastics in soil, finding that when biodegradable plastics fail to fully break down they can disrupt soil structure, nutrient cycling, and microbial life in ways that depend heavily on concentration and plastic type. The review highlights that "biodegradable" plastics are not a simple fix for microplastic pollution in agricultural soils.

2025 Emerging contaminants 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic accumulation in soils: Unlocking the mechanism and biodegradation pathway

Researchers reviewed how microplastics accumulate in soil and break down biologically, finding that certain microorganisms can form biofilms on plastic surfaces and use enzymes to slowly degrade the polymers — though conditions like pH, temperature, and moisture must be optimized and new plastic-degrading microbes need to be identified before this approach can be widely applied.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in terrestrial environments: Reviewing current understanding to determine the positive and negative aspects of soil

This review examines microplastics in terrestrial soils, covering their sources, distribution, and effects on soil health and organisms. It finds both negative impacts on soil function and organisms, as well as some neutral or context-dependent effects, and identifies key areas for future research.

2023 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of Microplastics in Soil

This review examines how soil microorganisms, plants, and soil animals contribute to the biodegradation of microplastics, summarizing current methods and their influencing factors as more sustainable alternatives to conventional plastic waste management.

2022 Advances in transdisciplinary engineering 4 citations