A Review of Microplastics Pollution in the Soil and Terrestrial Ecosystems

Abstract

Microplastics (MP) are a persistent and silent threat to the environment and are already considered a significant problem in aquatic environments. However, the presence of MP in soils and terrestrial ecosystems has been largely unexplored. Recent research has identified the risk of MP transfer from terrestrial agriculture to the human food chain. Thus, MP should be treated as a future threat to food safety and sustainable agriculture. Several reviews have focused on MP effects within global environmental matrices. However, scant investigations on the disposition, ecological impact and remediation strategies of MP have been reported in case of unexplored soil ecosystems as compared to aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, this review focuses on the contemporary global MP research with respect to research opportunities and related challenges of MP for the soil and terrestrial ecosystem from a Bangladesh perspective.