Environmental Microplastic Pollution Risks Associated with Plastic Waste Landfilling

Hang Liu, Yu Su, Yutao Cheng, Ziyang Lou, Cheng Peng, Jie Wang, Yanhua Wang, Lei Wang, Rong Ji

Prog Chem ›› 2025, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (1) : 32-45.

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Prog Chem ›› 2025, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (1) : 32-45. DOI: 10.7536/PC240712
Microplastics Special Issue

Environmental Microplastic Pollution Risks Associated with Plastic Waste Landfilling

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Abstract

Microplastic pollution arising from the aging and decomposition of plastic waste poses a significant challenge to global plastic pollution control. Landfills have been the primary disposal sites for solid waste for a long time, and the considerable amount of plastic waste accumulated in landfills has emerged as a crucial source of microplastics in terrestrial ecosystems. This paper mainly reviews the development of plastic waste landfilling and its evolution in the landfilling process, analyzes the external input and internal generation process of microplastics in landfills, and summarizes the abundance and structural composition characteristics of microplastics reported in the landfill piles (580-168 000 items/kg) and leachate (420-291 000 items/m3) and the surrounding soils (4-14 200 items/kg) and groundwater (3000-27 200 items/m3). This paper further reveals the migration of microplastics within the waste-soil-groundwater system, and the exposure routes of humans to microplastics through the contaminated soil, air, and edible plants. As the risks and control measures to the entire environmental process of microplastics in landfills urgently require investigation, this paper puts forward key scientific and technical issues and management suggestions.

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Distribution and lifecycle of landfills

2.1 Development and distribution of landfills

2.2 Full lifecycle of landfills

3 Sources and evolution of plastics in landfills

3.1 Primary sources of landfill plastic waste

3.2 Fragmentation of landfilled plastic waste

4 Occurrence and distribution of microplastics in landfills

4.1 Microplastics in waste piles

4.2 Microplastics in leachates

5 Migration and impacts of microplastics in landfills

5.1 Microplastic spread to the environment

5.2 Microplastic transfer to plants

6 Perspectives

Key words

landfills / plastic waste / microplastics / occurrence and distribution / transport and transformation / environmental risks

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Hang Liu , Yu Su , Yutao Cheng , et al . Environmental Microplastic Pollution Risks Associated with Plastic Waste Landfilling[J]. Progress in Chemistry. 2025, 37(1): 32-45 https://doi.org/10.7536/PC240712

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China(42177377)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(42477413)
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