Occurrence of macroplastic debris in the long-term plastic film-mulched agricultural soil: A case study of Northwest China

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2022-07, Vol.831, p.154881-154881, Article 154881
• Main Authors: Wang, Shuying, Fan, Tinglu, Cheng, Wanli, Wang, Lei, Zhao, Gang, Li, Shangzhong, Dang, Yi, Zhang, Jianjun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture soil; Long-term film mulching; Macroplastic debris; Northwest China
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154881

Widespread presence of plastic mulch has led to macroplastic (MaP) pollution. While this issue is widely explored in aquatic ecosystems, MaP pollution on land has been neglected. In 2019, we conducted a large-scale survey of MaPs in Northwest China in 0–30 cm soil with long-term mulching. Samples of MaP debris were collected from 67 sites across Gansu, east Qinghai, and north Shannxi Provinces. All visible MaP pieces for each site were separated and weighed. The mass of each MaP piece was calibrated by size measured in digital images. The MaP mass averaged 47.2 kg ha−1, and the number of MaPs averaged 266.2 pieces ha−1. The mass and number of MaPs varied from site to site. The mean size of MaPs was 19.5 cm2 piece−1 or 28.0 mg piece−1. More importantly, the number of small MaP pieces (