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As I understood they put up to 1 gram of polystyrene per kg of growth medium. Which is easily achievable concentration when composting biomass contaminated with
by rini17 6y ago
As I understood they put up to 1 gram of polystyrene per kg of growth medium. Which is easily achievable concentration when composting biomass contaminated with plastics, or near unregulated landfills.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoSo, no impact on agriculture. That's what I figured.
- goda90 6y agoIs 1 in 1000 an unbelievable concentration in topsoil? Microplastics in the atmosphere and in water supplies could result in an ever growing amount in the soil, and since the only way it leaves is by being washed away to contaminate someplace else, perhaps those concentrations will exist in a decade or so.
- sacred_numbers 6y agoIt kind of is an unbelievable concentration except in certain exceptional circumstances. A 0.1% concentration by weight for just the first 30 cm of topsoil would require about 5 tons of microplastics per hectare (or about 2 tons per acre). That's a lot of microplastics. It would be the equivalent of about 52 plastic water bottles per square meter. Unless the farm is on an extremely mismanaged landfill, I don't think that kind of concentration is likely. Edit: I'm not saying microplastics aren't a problem, they're just not likely much of a problem specifically for agricultural yields.
- 14 6y agoI agree. I also have been wondering a lot lately about where does all the tires that wear away each year go? Street sweepers, the oceans? Millions of tires each year. It’s frightening to think what that does.
- dahfizz 6y agoRubber is a naturally occurring compound. Vulcanizing it makes it a little tougher to break down, but it will still decompose in 50-100 years.
- 0xbadcafebee 6y agoWhich then produces oils, heavy metals, and mineral toxins absorbed by plant material and aquatic systems. An additional danger before decomposition are uncontrollable toxic fires from large piles of disposed tires. Only 35% of tires get reused or recycled, as it's difficult to do so cost-effectively.
- Robotbeat 6y agoTires are also filled with carbon black, which is fairly similar to soot/ash from fires, so I wouldn’t say it’s a completely unprecedented compound in nature, either.
- dcx 6y agoTires are made with nontrivial amounts of plastic as well - this [1] link says 24% [1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/nature/tires-the-plastic-polluter-you-never-thought-about.aspx https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/nature/tires-the-plast...