MICROPLASTIC: A COMPARISON OF SOIL SAMPLES IN MINNESOTA BY POPULATION

Plastic production has greatly increased since the 1950’s, when mass production of plastics began. In 2017 there was an estimated total of 8300 metric tons of plastics produced to date of which 79 percent was estimated to have accumulated in landfills and the natural environment as plastic pollution. Plastic pollution, which has shown to have negative impacts on wildlife, plants and humans, is often correlated with population density. We have taken soil samples from lakes of found in varying population densities to compare results. The soil samples were separated and filtered using the methods provided by Besley et al. 2016. Upon filtration, filters were visually inspected and compared. This study provides a local scale of the difference in microplastic presence in lake soils of varying population densities.