Dewatered digested sludge and compost may act as a conduit for microplastics (<5 mm) in terrestrial and subsequently aquatic systems. However, standardized methods for microplastics analyses are lacking. Thus, the aim is to demonstrate the applicability of wet-sieving as a way to quantify large microplastic particles (MPP, 1–5 mm) in dewatered digested sludge and compost. Additionally, we investigated the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, expired drinks and slaughterhouse waste used as co-substrate for anaerobic digestion at wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Therefore, we collected samples from six WWTP and two biogas plants. These were then wet-sieved and potential MPP analysed via attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). In dewatered digested sludge the amount of microplastics ranged from 0 to 326 MPP/kg TS (total solids) while compost contained 39–102 MPP/kg TS. Our results show that with 0–36 MPP/kg TS co-substrates are not necessarily a source of microplastics in WWTP. Furthermore, we found film to be the most abundant shape in the biogas plant samples, whereas, in WWTP samples film, fragments and fibers were detected the most. ATR-FTIR revealed that polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polypropylene, and polyethylene were the most abundant materials found across all samples.

Due to the activity of methane-oxidizing bacteria, forest soils are usually net sinks for the greenhouse gas methane (CH4). Despite several hints that CH4 balances might be influenced by vegetation, there are only few investigations dealing with this connection. Therefore, we studied this soil–plant–microbe interaction by using mesocosm experiments with forest soil and Larix decidua, a common coniferous tree species within the Alps. Gas measurements showed that the presence of L. decidua significantly reduced CH4 oxidation of the forest soil by ∼10% (−0.95 µmol m−2 h−1 for soil vs −0.85 µmol m−2 h−1 for soil plus L. decidua) leading to an increased net CH4 balance. Increased light intensity was used to intensify the influence of the plant on the soil's CH4 balance. The increase in light intensity strengthened the effect of the plant and led to a greater reduction of CH4 oxidation. Besides, we examined the impact of L. decidua and light on the abundance of methanogens and methanotrophs in the rhizosphere as compared with bulk soil. The abundance of both methane-oxidizing bacteria and methanogenic archaea was significantly increased in the rhizosphere compared with bulk soil but no significant response of methanogens and methanotrophs upon light exposure was established.

Immobilized biomass technology has been regarded as an effective strategy to enhance simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) in existing aerobic biological wastewater treatment processes. Nevertheless, the mechanisms of SND in an aerobic immobilized biomass need to be proven. In this study, waste sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants was immobilized by cellulose triacetate as bioplates, and an immobilized bioplate reactor (IBPR) was successfully established for nitrogen removal tests. The SND efficiency of the IBPR was increased 18% under the intermittent aeration (IA) mode compared with that under the continuous aeration (CA) mode. During IA operation, the IBPR achieved 96% COD removal and 76% NH4+-N removal, with 71% SND. The results of microbial community analysis by high-throughput sequencing showed that nitrogen-related functional bacteria were more abundant in the bioplates than in the attached biofilms. The colocalization of nitrifiers and denitrifiers in the bioplates was observed, and the microbial community of nitrogen-related functional bacteria clearly shifted with the substrate concentration gradients.