Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Evidence on Potential Bioremediation of Microplastics from Soil Environment around the World

This review examines evidence for bioremediation of microplastics from soil environments, evaluating how plants, bacteria, fungi, and other organisms can help remove or break down plastic particles in terrestrial ecosystems. While soil is a primary sink for microplastics, biological approaches to soil cleanup remain underdeveloped compared to aquatic bioremediation research.

2023 ACS symposium series 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential strategies for bioremediation of microplastic contaminated soil

Researchers reviewed emerging bioremediation strategies for removing microplastics from contaminated soil, highlighting the roles of plants, root-zone microbes, soil animals like earthworms, and specialized bacteria and fungi that can use enzymes to break down plastic polymers into harmless compounds. While genetic engineering of microbes shows promise for accelerating degradation, the review notes that real-world application at scale still requires significant research and development.

2024 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction effects and mechanisms of microorganisms and microplastics in soil environment

This review examines how microplastics and soil microorganisms interact: microplastics disrupt soil structure, reduce water retention, and impede plant root growth, while certain bacteria and fungi can colonize and partially degrade plastic particles through a multi-step process involving colonization, fragmentation, assimilation, and mineralization. Different polymer types (PE, PP, PS, PVC, PET) attract different microbial communities, and factors like temperature, moisture, and plastic additives affect degradation rates. Understanding these interactions is key to assessing long-term soil health impacts and developing microbial strategies to reduce plastic accumulation in agricultural soils.

2023 Research Square (Research Square)
Article Tier 2

Effect of microplastics on soil microbial community and microbial degradation of microplastics in soil: A review

This review examines how microplastics affect soil microbial communities and the potential for microbes to degrade plastic particles in soil environments. The study highlights that soil acts as a major sink for microplastics from sources like sewage sludge, agricultural mulch, and wastewater, and identifies key knowledge gaps including the need for better monitoring of microplastic sources and exploration of microbial biodegradation potential.

2023 Environmental Engineering Research 75 citations
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
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

Bioremediation of Soil Microplastics: Categories and Mechanisms

This review examines biological approaches to breaking down microplastics in soil, including the use of bacteria, fungi, and enzymes. Researchers found that certain microorganisms can partially degrade various plastic polymers, though the process is slow and influenced by plastic type, environmental conditions, and microbial community composition.

2023 ACS symposium series 9 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

Microbial Isolates in Microplastic-Polluted Soil

Researchers isolated and characterized microbial communities from microplastic-polluted soil, identifying bacteria capable of colonizing plastic surfaces and assessing their potential roles in plastic degradation and soil nutrient cycling.

2024 African Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research
Article Tier 2

Role of Biochar and Microbes in Remediation of Microplastics in Soil

This review examines how biochar and soil microbes can be combined to remediate microplastic-contaminated soils, synthesizing evidence for biochar's adsorption capacity and microbial degradation pathways that reduce microplastic persistence and toxicity.

2025 Journal of Innovative Solutions for Eco-Environmental Sustainability
Article Tier 2

Soil Microplastic Pollution and its Remediation: An Overview

This overview reviews the scope of microplastic pollution in soils globally, summarizing contamination sources, effects on soil ecosystems, and available remediation strategies including physical, chemical, and biological approaches to address this emerging environmental problem.

2025 Egyptian Journal of Soil Science
Article Tier 2

Systematical review of interactions between microplastics and microorganisms in the soil environment

This review explores interactions between microplastics and microorganisms in soil environments. Researchers found that microplastics pose a threat to the survival and reproduction of soil microbiota, but that soil microorganisms also show potential for degrading and mineralizing microplastic particles, suggesting possible biological pathways for microplastic remediation in terrestrial ecosystems.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 319 citations
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
Article Tier 2

The Effect of Microplastic Pollution on Soil, Plants and Soil Microbes and Its Remediation

This review summarized evidence for microplastic effects on soil properties, plant growth, soil microbes, and food safety, identifying microplastic pollution as a significant emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems. The authors also reviewed bioremediation and physical removal strategies as potential remediation approaches.

2022 Egyptian Journal of Soil Science 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic: Interaction with Agroecosystem and Microbial Remediation

This review examines the interactions between microplastics and agroecosystems, covering impacts on soil physical and chemical properties, microbial communities, and plant uptake, while also surveying microbial remediation strategies. It highlights a research gap in terrestrial and agricultural ecosystem studies relative to aquatic environments and calls for greater focus on soil microplastic dynamics.

2025
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as Emerging Soil Pollutants

This review covers how microplastics enter and accumulate in soils, their effects on soil health, microbial communities, soil fauna, and plant growth, and the implications of widespread soil plastic contamination for ecosystem function.

2024
Article Tier 2

A review of microplastics in the soil environment

This review summarizes the current state of knowledge about microplastic contamination in soil environments, covering sources, distribution, and effects on soil organisms and ecosystems. The study highlights that while aquatic microplastic research is more advanced, soil contamination poses significant but understudied risks to terrestrial ecosystems and food production.

2021 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioremediation of Microplastic Wastes in Soil

This chapter reviews bioremediation strategies for removing microplastics from soil, focusing on microbial and biological approaches to degrading plastic particles smaller than 5 mm. The authors discuss mechanisms of microbial plastic degradation and the promise of bioremediation as a sustainable soil remediation tool.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplastic effects on soil organic matter dynamics and bacterial communities under contrasting soil environments

Researchers compared microplastic effects on soil organic matter dynamics and bacterial communities across contrasting soil environments, finding that the type of microplastic polymer and soil conditions together determine whether microbial activity and carbon cycling are stimulated or suppressed.

2024
Article Tier 2

Microplastics accumulation in agricultural soil: Evidence for the presence, potential effects, extraction, and current bioremediation approaches

This review examines the accumulation of microplastics in agricultural soils from sources like plastic mulching and irrigation, discussing their effects on soil properties and crop growth, along with current bioremediation approaches for removing soil microplastics.

2022 Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology 24 citations
Article Tier 2

The degradation of microplastic by microorganisms: A generous way to treat Plastic waste

This review examines microbial biodegradation of microplastics in soil environments, finding that bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus gottheilii can degrade microplastics that accumulate from plastic mulching, sewage waste, and direct deposition, offering a biological pathway to reduce soil microplastic contamination.

2025 Journal of Environmental Studies/Journal of Environmental Studies
Article Tier 2

The Role of Soil Microorganisms in Microplastic Biodegradation: Mechanisms, Carbon Preferences, and Ecological Impacts

This review examines how soil microorganisms interact with microplastics and attempt to biodegrade them, finding that despite plastics being carbon-based, their unique chemical structures prevent microbes from using them the same way they use natural organic matter. Soil carbon availability affects which microbes preferentially colonize and partially break down plastic particles, but full assimilation remains limited. Understanding microbial degradation pathways is important for assessing how long microplastics persist in soils and for developing bioremediation strategies.

2026 Environmental Microbiology Reports
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and soil microbiomes

This review examines the two-way relationship between microplastics and soil microbiomes: how microplastics alter microbial community structure and function, and how soil microbes in turn affect the behavior of microplastics. Researchers found that microplastics can shift microbial communities and disrupt key ecosystem processes like nutrient cycling. The study also discusses how certain soil microbes may enhance the degradation of microplastics, pointing to potential natural remediation pathways.

2025 BMC Biology 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioremediation of plastics by the help of microbial tool: A way for control of plastic pollution

This review covers how bacteria and fungi can be used to break down plastic waste, including microplastics, through natural biological processes. Various microorganisms can degrade different types of plastics by producing specific enzymes, though the process is slow and depends on the plastic type and environmental conditions. While biological degradation shows promise for reducing microplastic pollution in soil and water, much more research is needed to make it effective enough to address the scale of the problem.

2023 Sustainable Chemistry for the Environment 37 citations