Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) could reintroduce microplastics
into environments via biosolid application on land. Yet, the annual
emission of microplastics via wastewater biosolids is unclear. Analyzing
results from 76 studies, we estimate median concentrations of microplastics
in influent, effluent, and sludge in various regions in the world
and found that only 4% of microplastics removed in WWTPs are detected
in the biosolids, and the remaining 96% could be unaccounted for.
Unaccounted microplastics are attributed to limitations of current
methodologies to isolate and identify small (<10 μm) microplastics
in organic-rich sludge, although there is high variability in estimating
the concentration in influent and effluent. A meta-analysis of microplastic
data reveals that variability is high if a wastewater sample has low
volume (<1 L, particularly for effluent), organic debris is not
digested or digested without Fenton’s reagent, microplastics
are isolated without density separation or using NaCl solution, and
microplastics are counted using a microscope without spectroscopic
identification. Based on the median concentration of microplastics
in influent, effluent, and biosolids, land application of biosolids
in the U.S. alone could annually release 785–1080 trillion
microplastics, of which only 29–46 trillion are accounted for
or detected. Thus, the true concentration of microplastics in biosolids
could be significantly underestimated.
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