Microplastics pollute agricultural soils, thus ecosystems and food, including through pesticides and fertilizers. The emergency is signaled in the report ‘Sowing a Plastic Planet’ just released by CIEL, Center for International Environmental Law, where an appeal is made to governments. (1)
Microplastics in soil from pesticides
Agriculture is one of the leading sectors in the dispersion of microplastics into the environment. Mulch sheets and greenhouse covers, canisters and plastic packaging are as notorious as passive contamination of agricultural water and that derived from atmospheric deposition. A major contribution to pollution of seas and fresh waters. And to human exposure through diet and air.
Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, tanned seeds, and other conventional (i.e., nonorganic) agrochemicals, however, make an extraordinary yet invisible contribution to microplastic pollution. (2) In fact, plastic polymers have been adopted to encapsulate controlled-release agrotoxics for more than 40 years.
Pollution and toxicity leaders
Non-organic agriculture uses more microplastics than any other sector, accounting for half of the total.
In fact, the report’s authors report that ‘according to a 2019 report by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), microplastics intentionally added to fertilizers, pesticides, and seed coatings account for nearly half of the approximately 51,500 tons of microplastics used each year in the European Economic Area (EEA).’
Moreover, the agro-poison market is expected to grow 6 percent a year to $3.3 billion by 2025. (3) So much for the goals of the EuropeanGreen Deal.
CIEL’s appeal
CIEL calls on governments to urgently close regulatory loopholes and strictly ban the deliberate use of microplastic sources in agriculture.
The organization therefore calls for:
1) End the use of microplastics intentionally added to agricultural inputs,
2) Further research into the harms of microplastics,
3) Curb dependence on industrial agriculture, chemical fertilizers and pesticides,
4) Take a comprehensive global approach to the regulation of plastics.
Notes
(1) CIEL. Sowing at Plastic Planet. How Microplastics in Agrochemicals Are Affecting Our Soils, Our Food, and Our Future. July 2022
(2) Dario Dongo,
Microplastics away in the wind, contaminated even the air.
. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade) 29.4.19
Dario Dongo.
Microplastics in water and agriculture, first study in Lombardy.
. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade), 12/18/18
(3)
Controlled Release Fertilizer Market
. Markets and Markets, accessed April 14, 2022.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
