Неформальная переработка пластика в Индии загрязняет сельскохозяйственные почвы микропластиком

Mismanaged plastic waste disposal impacting agricultural systems in India: Study Informal recycling hubs in India, including Delhi and Moradabad, process both domestic and imported waste, with residual plastics often entering the surrounding agricultural systems, the study states Estimating that globally 20-30 per cent of plastic waste is mismanaged, with significantly higher fractions in low- and middle-income countries, a new study has flagged agricultural systems in India being adversely affected by microplastics. “Informal recycling hubs in India, including Delhi and Moradabad, process both domestic and imported waste, with residual plastics often entering the surrounding agricultural systems,” the study stated while pointing out that plastic waste is often openly burnt or illegally dumped which can lead to microplastic infiltration into the soil. “Plastic mulching films already contribute to agricultural field plastic contamination, either through incomplete collection of mulching films after the growing season, or intentionally tilling or burying these films into the field,” the study added. Informal recycling systems dominate plastic waste processing in South Asia, including imported low-grade plastics that are difficult to recycle. Manual sorting and shredding generate fine microplastic particulates, while open burning — still widely practiced — releases microplastics into the atmosphere along with toxic co-pollutants, creating an additional pathway of human exposure through inhalation, the study observed. Plastics also contain a complex mixture of chemical additives, with over 13,000 substances associated with plastics and more than 3,200 of these chemicals having one or more hazardous properties. Ingestion through inhalation or via food chains has raised serious health concerns. The study, undertaken by researchers from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Texas A&M University, was published by Nature’s Emerging Contaminants, a peer reviewed journal, on September 2. Observing that plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental challenges of the 21st century, the study said that driven by a linear economic model of produce-use-discard, global plastic production exceeded 400 million tonnes in 2021. Approximately 14 million tonnes of plastic waste are traded globally each year, of which up to 60 per cent may be mismanaged. This corresponds to roughly 3-8 million tonnes of plastic entering uncontrolled environmental pathways annually. “The global trade of plastic waste, once touted as a solution to managing excessive plastic production and consumption in developed countries, has exacerbated environmental degradation, particularly in developing countries that receive these imports,” the researchers said. As plastic waste accumulates, it degrades into microplastics and nanoplastics, which are pervasive across environments, from ocean trenches to mountain peaks, infiltrating ecosystems, food chains and even human bodies, and contributing to air pollution. The study examined how the global plastic waste trade amplifies microplastic pollution through informal recycling, dumping and burning in importing regions with limited waste management capacity. Synthesising evidence across aquatic, terrestrial, atmospheric, and human exposure pathways shows that transboundary plastic waste redistribution contributes to environmental inequality and increased pollution risks, the researchers said. At the process level, according to the study, the generation and dispersion of microplastics associated with global plastic waste trade are governed by a combination of physical fragmentation, thermal degradation, and environmental transport processes. Mechanical handling during sorting and recycling generates primary fragments, while exposure to ultraviolet radiation, oxidation and mechanical abrasion accelerates secondary fragmentation in open dumps and landfills. In parallel, open burning produces thermally altered microplastic particles.