Greenhouse plastic contaminations in agricultural soils were studied to quantify and examine the macroplastic and microplastic contaminants on the soil surface, soil profile, and groundwater under greenhouse farmland. Random sampling was used to select three areas in a greenhouse farm where macroplastic and microplastic data were collected. Four composite samples were collected from shallow (0–20 cm) and deep (20–40 cm) soils for each sampling point, respectively. Three soil profiles were dug, and samples were collected at intervals of 20 cm. Groundwater samples were also collected from the same profiles at a depth of 100 cm. Microplastics were extracted using predigestion of organic matter with 30% H2O2 and density separation with ZnCl2. The total mass of macroplastics in the greenhouse farmland was 6.4 kg ha–1. Polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride were the dominant plastic structures, and the dominant sizes were 1–5 and 0.5–1.0 cm, respectively. Overall, the average abundance of microplastics in the greenhouse soil was 225 ± 61.69 pieces/kg, and the dominant size structure was 2–3 mm. The average microplastic concentrations at depths of 0–20 and 20–40 cm were 300 ± 93 and 150.0 ± 76.3 pieces/kg, respectively. The average microplastic concentration in the groundwater was 2.3 pieces/l, and fibers were the dominant plastic structure. Given that microplastics were found in greenhouse soil, soil profiles, and groundwater, we recommend the careful cleaning and disposal of plastics on greenhouse farmland and further research to shed light on the level of microplastic contamination in the soil profiles and groundwater.

Researchers are focused on the global issue of plastic contamination in agricultural soils because of the known effects of plastics on the soil ecosystem. Previous reviews did not pay attention to plastic sources, standardized extraction methods, soil characterization, and the abundance of plastics in agricultural soils. This study aims to review up-to-the-minute knowledge about plastic contamination studies, suggest the best method for microplastic studies, and propose future research areas. The research about plastic contamination in agricultural soils published from January 2018 to March 2022 was reviewed for this review article. Studies focusing on microplastics in soils other than agricultural soils were not considered in the present review. The data were acquired from several databases, namely Web of Science and Google Scholar. The keywords used to search these databases were "microplastics AND agricultural soils" and "macroplastics AND agricultural soils". Other literature sources were obtained from the reference lists of downloaded articles, and other pieces of literature that directly dealt with macroplastic and microplastic contamination in agricultural soils were obtained from relevant journals and books. Overall, 120 sources of literature, including 102 original research articles, 13 review articles, and five books, were selected, reviewed, and synthesized. As expected, agricultural soils, including arable lands, paddy lands, uplands, irrigation, and greenhouse soils, receive plastic contaminants. The contaminants of different sizes and forms are distributed spatially and temporally in the surface, subsurface, and profiles of the agricultural soils. Unlike previous studies that reported many studies on sewage sludge, the significant sources of plastic contamination in the agricultural soils included mulching, sludge and compost placement, and greenhouses abandonment. The distribution of plastic contamination studies in the agricultural lands is Asia: 60%; Europe: 29%; Africa: 4%; North America: 4%; Latin America: 3%; and Australia: 0%. After careful analysis of the methods used for the plastics contamination studies, the study concluded that floatations with low-density solutions such as distilled water and NaCl are efficient in separating light-density microplastics. In contrast, ZnCl and NaI are incredibly efficient in separating the heavy-density microplastics. Moreover, this review provides insight for future research in the field.