EFFECTIVE MICROPLASTICS ON SOIL PERMEABILITY

Plastic is now pervasive in the environment, making up the majority of the trash found on beaches and micro and macro debris in surface water. One study found that plastic made up over 30% of the sand on one beach in Hawaii. One would now find it nearly impossible to find a part of the Earth’s surface, hydrosphere or atmosphere that is free of plastics. The extent of microplastic in water is being widely studied, however the effects of these in soil and beach sand is poorly understood. One study suggested that microplastics in beach sands increased permeability, however, this has not yet been replicated in a controlled fashion. We took silica sands and combined them with various amounts of microplastics in controlled columns in the laboratory and measured the permeability rates over time. The data show differences in permeability rates between sand and sand-plastic combinations.