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Review
. 2023 Jul 20:883:163700.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163700. Epub 2023 Apr 25.

Microplastics in soils during the COVID-19 pandemic: Sources, migration and transformations, and remediation technologies

Shan Zhao  1 , Jian Zhang  2
Affiliations
Review

Microplastics in soils during the COVID-19 pandemic: Sources, migration and transformations, and remediation technologies

Shan Zhao et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a notable upsurge of 5-10 % in global plastic production, which could have potential implications on the soil quality through increased microplastics (MPs) content. The elevated levels of MPs in the soil poses a significant threat to both the environment and human health, hence necessitating the remediation of MPs in the environment. Despite the significant attention given to MPs remediation in aqueous environments, less consideration has been given to MPs remediation in the soil. Consequently, this review highlights the major sources of MPs in the soil, their migration and transformation behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and emphasizes the importance of utilizing remediation technologies such as phytoremediation, thermal treatment, microbial degradation, and photodegradation for MPs in the soil. Furthermore, this review provides a prospective outlook on potential future remediation methods for MPs in the soil. Although the COVID-19 pandemic is nearing its end, the long-term impact of MPs on the soil remains, making this review a valuable reference for the remediation of MPs in the post-pandemic soil.

Keywords: Migration and transformation; Remediation technologies; Soil microplastics; Sources; The COVID-19 pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Unlabelled Image
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(a) Based on the Web of Science search of 255 references on the keyword “microplastic degradation technology” in the last 3 years, and then using the visualization software VOSviewer to analyze the entries; (b) major sources of MPs generated during the COVID-19 pandemic; (c) estimated daily mask use in selected representative countries. Map created with mapchart.net© (Data from (Mahmoudnia et al., 2022; Sangkham, 2020).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Migration and transformation mechanism of MPs in the soil.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The mechanisms of pyrolysis plastics.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Mechanisms of phytoremediation of MPs.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The mechanisms of microbial degradation of MPs.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Photodegradation mechanisms: (a) singlet oxygen mechanism of oxidation; (b) free radical mechanism of oxidation (Adapted from (Lee and Li, 2021)). Photocatalytic degradation mechanism: (c) general mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of MPs; (d) the overall mechanism of photocatalytic degradation (Adapted from (Nabi et al., 2021)).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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