| Title | Predicted Growth in Plastics Entering Biosolids and Agricultural Lands Exceeds Efforts to Control Source Emissions |
|---|---|
| ID_Doc | 9130 |
| Authors | Okoffo, ED; Tscharke, BJ; Thomas, KV |
| Title | Predicted Growth in Plastics Entering Biosolids and Agricultural Lands Exceeds Efforts to Control Source Emissions |
| Year | 2023 |
| Published | Acs Es&T Water, 3.0, 8 |
| Abstract | A novel global analysis of plastics releaseto agriculturallands via biosolids application from 1970 to 2050 is presented. Plastic production and consumptionhave increased exponentiallysince the latter half of the 1900s. With this has come an extensiverelease of plastics into every environment on earth. Municipal sewage,for which the solids (biosolids) are recovered and widely used asfertilizers on agricultural lands, is a source of plastics inadvertentlyand potentially accumulating in soils. Following on from our previouswork estimating plastics in Australian sewage biosolids from 1970to 2016, we estimated and extrapolated the annual global release ofplastics to agricultural lands via biosolids application from 1970to 2050. We show that plastics entering the environment from biosolidsincreased from an annual 6 metric tonnes (Mt) in the year 1970 to472,600 Mt in 2021. Extrapolating to 2050, we estimated a global releaseof around 584,250 Mt annually, for a cumulative global total from1970 to 2050 of 37 million Mt released to biosolids, 18 million ofwhich to land for agricultural purposes. This was equivalent to 340g of plastics entering biosolids annually per person in 2021. Identifyingand controlling plastics at the source or removing plastics from wastestreams is an important focus for reducing contamination in biosolidsend-use applications for a circular economy. |
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