{"id":39224,"date":"2022-06-11T10:04:09","date_gmt":"2022-06-11T00:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=39224"},"modified":"2022-06-11T10:04:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T00:04:09","slug":"trillions-of-microplastic-particles-spread-on-land-used-to-grow-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=39224","title":{"rendered":"Trillions of Microplastic Particles Spread on Land Used to Grow Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Microplastic<\/p>\n

Plastic particles smaller than 5mm (known as microplastics) are well-documented pollutants in ocean and freshwater habitats.<\/p>\n

The discovery of microplastics in the most remote rivers of\u00a0the Himalayas<\/a>\u00a0and the deepest trenches of the\u00a0Pacific Ocean<\/a>\u00a0has sparked widespread concern. But how much microplastic lies closer to home \u2014 buried in the soil where\u00a0food<\/a>\u00a0is grown?<\/p>\n

Our latest study<\/a>\u00a0estimated that between 31,000 and 42,000 tonnes of microplastics (or 86 trillion \u2014 710 trillion microplastic particles) are spread on European farmland soils each year, mirroring the concentration of microplastics in ocean surface waters.<\/p>\n

The cause is microplastic-laden fertilizers derived from\u00a0sewage sludge<\/a>\u00a0diverted from wastewater treatment plants.<\/p>\n

These are commonly spread on farmland as a renewable source of fertilizer throughout European countries, in part due to\u00a0EU directives<\/a>\u00a0that aim to promote a circular waste economy.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/microplastic-pollution-farmland-soil\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plastic particles smaller than 5mm (known as microplastics) are well-documented pollutants in ocean and freshwater habitats. The discovery of microplastics in the most remote rivers of\u00a0the Himalayas\u00a0and the deepest trenches of the\u00a0Pacific Ocean\u00a0has sparked widespread concern. But how much microplastic lies closer to home \u2014 buried in the soil where\u00a0food\u00a0is grown? Our latest study\u00a0estimated that … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Trillions of Microplastic Particles Spread on Land Used to Grow Food”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-health-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39226,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39224\/revisions\/39226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}