Environmental Chemistry Letters (2021) 19:4211–4224

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01297-6

REVIEW

Microplastic pollution in soil and groundwater: a review

Rogers Wainkwa Chia1,2 · Jin‑Yong Lee1,3   · Heejung Kim1,3 · Jiwook Jang1,3

Received: 25 May 2021 / Accepted: 28 July 2021 / Published online: 24 August 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

Abstract
Plastic particles of less than 5 mm size, referred as microplastics, have recently become a major environmental issue. While
microplastics are well known in marine and lake systems, there have been less investigations in soils and groundwater. Here
we review the origin, shape, impact, and mitigation strategies of soil and groundwater microplastics. We found that littering
is the main origin of microplastics in global topsoils, while greenhouses are the main source of microplastics in South Korea.
Fibers and pellets are dominant microplastic shapes in soil and groundwater. Microplastic contamination of soil and ground-
water is detrimental to human health, plants, nematodes, earthworms, and soil properties. Remediation methods include
pyrolysis, replacing plastics by biodegradable plastics, plastic filtration, and subsequent chemical or biological degradation.

Keywords  Microplastics · Groundwater soil origin · Polymer type · Shape · Impacts

Introduction and by 2018, this amount expanded geometrically to 359 Mt

In last decades till date, there has been a growth in the uti-
lization of plastic globally (Nielsen et al. 2020; Shen et al.
2020a; Yadav et al. 2020). This is because plastic has out-
standing properties, low cost, and versatility (Bucknall et al.
2020; Klemeš et al. 2020; Debrah et al. 2021; Razeghi et al.
2021). The name plastic originates from the Greek word
‘plastikos,’ which means it can be shaped in various forms
(Rajmohan et al. 2019). A plastic is a generic term for an
artificial large molecule called polymer with either similar or
equal units bound together (Laskar and Kumar 2019; Geyer
2020; Mishra et al. 2020). The diverse utilization, produc-
tion, and manufacture of plastic can be traced back to its
discovery in 1839, then the first modern plastic era in the
1920s followed by the start of the durable plastic production
age in 1940 (Table 1). In 1950, the global annual production
of plastic was estimated to be about 2 million tons (Mt),
* Jin‑Yong Lee
hydrolee@kangwon.ac.kr
1
Department of Geology, Kangwon National University,
Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea
2
Research Institute for Earth Resources, Kangwon National
University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea
3
Research on Microplastics in Groundwater (RMPG),
Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341,
Republic of Korea
(Lebreton and Andrady 2019; Napper and Thompson 2020;
Wang et al. 2020c). Without any control, by the year 2060,
it is anticipated that 155–265 Mt of plastic will be produced
annually (Chen et al. 2020b). About 20–90 Mt of plastic
waste is generated from the huge production of plastic each
year (Lebreton and Andrady 2019; Mazhandu and Muzenda
2019; Borrelle et al. 2020). As of 2016, the Republic of
Korea (hereafter Korea) alone produced approximately 4.5
Mt of plastic waste (Law et al. 2020). If plastic waste is dis-
posed of voluntarily or involuntarily in the environment, it
breaks down into either microplastic over time (Bajt 2021;
Banu et al. 2020; Chico-Ortiz et al. 2020; Nanda and Ber-
ruti 2021).
In 2004, the term ‘microplastic’ was coined by Thompson
Richard Charles to document smaller size plastic especially
in oceans (Picó and Barceló 2019; Wang et al. 2019a). How-
ever, there is no absolute standard definition that covers all
aspects of microplastics (Frias and Nsah 2019). Most clas-
sifications of microplastics accept the size of microplastics
to fall in the range of 5–100 mm (Zhang et al. 2020a). On
the other hand, recent studies assume that microplastics
fall within the range of 5 mm–1 μm (Hartmann et al. 2019;
Ahmad et al. 2020). Microplastics are a combination of mul-
tiple contaminants, not just one contaminant as often mis-
understood by some scientists and policymakers (Rochman
et al. 2019). Microplastics comprise of a variety of polymers,
supplemented by a series of additives that can be made into

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4212 Environmental Chemistry Letters (2021) 19:4211–4224

Table 1  Plastic production history Microplastics contamination of the environment is con-

Year Name of plastics References sidered a potential threat to human health and can exist for
hundreds of years in nature because they are not decompos-
1839 Polystyrene and vulcanized Alabi et al. (2019) able in any way (Gibb 2019; Park et al. 2020; Wang et al.
rubber discovered
2021b). Despite plastic has been widely used for a long time,
1860 Parkesine Rasmussen (2021)
it is only recently that its by-product microplastics have
1870 Celluloid
become a central topic of discussion around the world (Kim
1907 Bakelite (made from phenol Porta (2019)
and formaldehyde)
and Lee 2020). This is not because they are good for society,
1920 Polyvinyl chloride Geyer (2020)
but mainly because of their potential impact on the above-
1940 Durable plastics Latuta (2019)
ground and underground environment. Therefore, a review
of the potential impact of microplastics on the environment
is necessary.
At present, there are many documents on the adverse
a variety of products. Usually, at least seven polymers and effects of microplastics on the marine environment, but there
multiple colors can be used to define microplastics (Fig. 1). is very limited attention to the literature on microplastics
Microplastics originate from two main sources, namely pri- pollution in the terrestrial environment globally and Korea
mary source and secondary source (Su et al. 2019; Fig. 2). specifically (Hurley and Nizzetto 2018; Wang et al. 2019c;
The primary source of microplastics involves production Zhu et al. 2019; Choi et al. 2021). Soil microplastics’ con-
with dimensions less than 5 mm (Yurtsever 2019). Second- centration is increasing significantly and widely distributed
ary sources encompass a group of microplastics originally all over the world (Fig. 3; Gibb 2019; Zhang et al. 2020b).
produced in a certain size greater than 5.0 mm (Shahnawaz According to Kim and Lee (2020), worldwide as of 2016,
et  al. 2019). However, due to biological, physical, and Korea had the highest annual consumption of plastic. Thus, a
chemical weathering, these microplastics can be broken into review of the influence of microplastics on soils globally and
smaller sizes less than 5.0 mm (Naik et al. 2020). in Korea will help us to broaden our understanding of the

Fig. 1  Types of plastic poly-

mers. Microplastics come from
at least seven different types of
plastic polymers. They can all
be recyclable. Adapted from
Plastics for change (2021)

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Fig. 2  Major sources of
microplastics. The size of
the microplastics from the
primary sources is less than
5 mm. Microplastics from the
secondary sources are larger
than 5 mm, which can then be
broken down into smaller sizes.
Adapted from Pinto et al. (2020)
sources, abundances, and impacts of microplastics. When
microplastics are deposited in a terrestrial environment,
some may eventually end up in water (Uheida et al. 2021).
While some of these microplastics might be transported ver-
tically into the subsoil over time and/or eventually end up in
the ground water system (Wanner 2021). Panno et al. (2019)
and Wanner (2021) pointed out a karst ground water sys-
tem to have microplastics with a maximum concentration of
about 15.2 particles/L. This migration of microplastics into
the groundwater system may harm plant, animal, microbial,
human health, and the environment. Therefore, the objective
of this review was to appraisal recent research on the origin,
shape, impact, and mitigation strategies of global soil and
groundwater microplastics, more precisely in Korea.
This information will be helpful to broaden our under-
standing of soils and groundwater microplastics and future
research.
Origin of soil and groundwater microplastics
Origin of soil microplastics
Considering that the foremost roles of soil are sustaining
biodiversity, moderating nutrient cycling, and providing
food, it is important to have up-to-date knowledge of the
origin of microplastics deposited in soils in different land-
use types in a global and Korean context. Over the last few
years, some researches have been conducted to fill the gap
in this research field that has been neglected in different
parts of the world and Korea (Table 2). Recently Ding et al.
(2020) pointed out that microplastics concentrations as high
as 3410 pieces/kg may pollute agricultural soil. In wet agri-
cultural land-use systems (e.g., paddy rice fields), irriga-
tion and urea fertilizers coated with microplastics have been
identified as the main origins of microplastics (Table 2). The
use of irrigation and fertilizers promotes the growth of crops,
especially in water-scarce areas (Lin et al. 2019; Shamshina
et al. 2020). According to Gil-Ortiz et al. (2020), the use of
humic acid polymer-coated fertilizer for crop planting can
enhance crop growth. In rain-fed agricultural land-use sys-
tems (e.g., a sweet potato farm), plastic mulch and sewage
sludge are considered to be the main origins of microplastics
in the soil (Huang et al. 2020; Table 2). Plastic mulch is
often used in crop planting to repress the growth of weeds,
maintain soil moisture and the optimal temperature of the
soil (Asif et al. 2020; Wong et al. 2020). Indhumathi et al.
(2020) found that after cultivation with plastic mulch, mel-
ons, and tuberose grew more and faster. The utilization of
sewage sludge in farms improves crop growth (Gao et al.
2019; Rehman and Qayyum 2020). Sewage sludge is a valu-
able organic fertilizer for wheat growth (Eid et al. 2019). In
Korea, unlike the world, the main source of microplastics
in agricultural land comes from greenhouses (Table 2). In
addition to the use of plastic mulch and sewage sludge on
agricultural land, improper disposal of municipal garbage,
tire abrasion, and littering are other major origins of micro-
plastics in the soil (Table 2). The only natural main origin
of microplastics in terrestrial environments such as natural
forests is atmospheric disposal microplastics (Thinh et al.
2020; Wright et al. 2020).
Origin of groundwater microplastics
When microplastics are deposited on the soil’s surface,
there is a possibility that they can be transported verti-
cally, into sub-layers of the soil, and maybe eventually
into deeper layers of the soil (Li et al. 2021). According
to Re (2019), microplastics introduced into the soil may
eventually enter the groundwater system through leaching
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Fig. 3  Global average soil microplastic concentrations. a the continental distribution of studied on soil microplastic concentrations, and b the
global percentage of soil microplastic concentrations. Adapted from Büks and Kaupenjohann (2020)

or penetration into the pores of the soil. Soil is not only
a potential microplastics sink, but also a viable route to
aquifers or groundwater systems (O’Connor et al. 2019).
Knowledge about the transport of microplastics in soils
is necessary to correctly assess their possible transfer to
groundwater (Bigalke and Filella 2019). Following the
recent identification of microplastics in drinking water,
some studies have recently been conducted to determine
the main origin of microplastics in groundwater (Table 3).
Some studies assume that groundwater contamination and
pollution by microplastics and inorganic compounds such
as nitrates are linked to human activities, such as agricul-
ture, fishery, wastewater treatment work, and family activi-
ties aboveground (Raza and Lee 2019; Allé et al. 2021;
Kumar and Sharma 2021a, b). So, comparing microplas-
tics in different aquifer systems (karst and sand aquifers)
and different environments (rainy and arid) is very impor-
tant to know how microplastics infiltrate to the subsurface
layers.
In general, the origins of microplastics in the global top-
soil (0-30 cm) are in descending order: littering, sewage
sludge, plastic covering, fertilizer (coating), irrigation, and
dumping. As for Korea, the origins of microplastics in the
soil are also in descending order: greenhouses, roadsides,
orchards, irrigation, and plastic mulches. In the groundwater
system, especially after determining the microplastics in the
water, the origins of the microplastics in the groundwater
are listed in descending order: landfill, karst, and estuary.

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Table 2  Inventory of global and Korean origins of soil microplastics

Origin Land use Sampling Region Abundance (pieces/kg) References
depth (cm)

Global
Irrigation Paddy rice cultivation 0–10 Shanghai, China 10.3 ± 2.2 Lv et al. (2019)
Coated fertilizer Paddy rice cultivation 0–15 Hokuriku, Japan 48 ± 26 Katsumi et al. (2021)
Sewage sludge Agriculture field 0–30 Spain 5190 Van et al. (2020)
Plastic mulching Crop cultivation 0–10 Hangzhou Bay, east 571 Zhou et al. (2020)
China
Littering (either volun- Urbanization (mangrove 0–5 Ciénaga Grande de 2,863 Garcés- Ordóñez et al.
tarily or not) forest) Santa Marta, Colombia (2019)
Littering in park Urbanization (parks) 0–10 Lahore, Pakistan 6,250 ± 3,776 Rafique et al (2020)
Littering Urbanization 0–15 Yangtze, China 3,748 ± 2,301 Zhou et al. (2021)
Waste dumping (bio- Industrial waste manage- 0–15 Ontario, Canada 1.4 × ­104 Crossman et al. (2020)
solids) ment
Abrasion from tires Urbanization 0–5 Gold Coast, Australia 320 ± 42 Ziajahromi et al. (2020)
Atmospheric disposal Natural forest 0–20 Oaxaca, Mexico 1.49–1.53 Álvarez-Lopeztello et al.
(2021)
Littering (runoff) Mangrove forest 0–30 Ghana 467 Chico- Ortiz et al. (2020)
Unidentified origin Cropland 0–25 Chile 306 ± 360 Corradini et al. (2021)
Korea
Greenhouse Cropland (vegetables) 0–5 Yongin 1,880 ± 1,563 Kim et al. (2021a)
Irrigation Paddy rice cultivation 0–5 160 ± 93
Plastic mulching Vegetable cultivation 0–5 81 ± 77
Orchard Agriculture field 0–5 Yeoju 664 Choi et al. (2021)
Roadside (traffic) Urbanization (traffic) 0–5 1,108

Table 3  Inventory of recent origins of groundwater microplastics

Location Land use Abundance Borewell depth (m) Characterization References
(pieces/L)

Illinois, USA Karst 15.2 Not available Not available Panno et al. (2019)
Chennai, India Landfill 2–80 3–30.8 Nylon, pellets, foam, fragments, fibers/ Manikanda et al. (2021)
polyvinyl chloride, polythene
Punakayal, India Estuary 4.2 2–5 Nylon, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, Selvam et al. (2021)
and polyethylene
Germany Not available 5.6 30 Polyethylene, nylon, and polyvinyl chloride Mintenig et al. (2019)

In the future, more studies should consider sampling deeper
soil depths.
Dominant shapes of soil and groundwater
microplastics
Microplastics exist in numerous shapes and colors (Fu and
Wang 2019; Shruti et al. 2020). The shapes of microplas-
tics are frequently used to assign them into groups, which
helps to distinguish the origin (Lusher et al. 2020). In
general, the research community uses four to seven differ-
ent groups of microplastics (Hartmann et al. 2019). These
groups are defined either by shape or morphology. These
shapes include fibers, fragments, beats, spheres, pellets or
granules, films, and foams (Hartmann et al. 2019). When
determining the origin of microplastics in soils or ground-
water, it is important to note that certain microplastics
shapes are detached from different products (Schmiedgru-
ber et al. 2019; Yang et al. 2019). Recognizing this clue
helps to easily identify the origin of microplastics in the
soil or groundwater environment (Rochman et al. 2019).
Several recent studies have reviewed the potential origins
of soil microplastics (Xu et al. 2019; Zhu et al. 2019; Li
et al. 2020; Wong et al. 2020; Table 2). It can be seen
from these reviews that the use of plastic mulch, irriga-
tion, and sewage sludge is the main origins of soil micro-
plastics in farmland soils. Littering is the main origin of

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microplastics in urban areas, while atmospheric deposition Impacts of soil and groundwater

is the main origin of microplastics in natural forest soils.
At present, only a few studies report the dominant
shapes of microplastics in soil and groundwater (Table 4).
In both soils and groundwater environments, fiber and pel-
let are observed to be dominant shapes of microplastics
(Table 4). Although fragment and film are the dominant
shapes of microplastics, this is only noticeable in the soil
environment compared to the groundwater environment
(Wu et al. 2021). In developed and industrialized countries
(e.g., Korea), the presence of microplastics in groundwa-
ter may be related to infiltration or leaching, especially in
landfills (Bellas et al. 2020). The presence of most micro-
plastics as fiber either in soils or groundwater implies the
microplastics might come from either clothes, furniture,
or carpet (Chen et al. 2020a; Fontana et al. 2021). While
pellet in either soils or groundwater can be associated
with personal care products such as cosmetics and clean-
ing products (Guerranti et al. 2019; Suardy et al. 2020).
The presence of film-shape microplastics can be associated
with plastic coverings, plastic bags, and plastic packag-
ing (Yu et al. 2021). Microplastics fragments are often
associated with plastic packaging and plastic waste. In
other words, plastic can be broken and decomposed into
microplastics fragments under the action of mechanical
abrasion, ultraviolet radiation, and biodegradation (Yang
et al. 2021).
Collectively, the presiding shapes of microplastics in
soil and groundwater are fibers and particles. Also, the
main types of plastic polymers for these dominant micro-
plastic shapes in soil and groundwater are: polypropylene,
polyethylene, and polystyrene. Therefore, if any of these
microplastic polymers are found in groundwater, their ori-
gin can be linked to the soil.
microplastics contamination
Impacts of groundwater microplastic contamination
The microplastics found in groundwater are about 16 pieces/
liter, and this is due to the ubiquitous and persistent exist-
ence of these microplastics in nature (Campos and Pestana
2020). At the same time, there is almost no research on the
impact of groundwater microplastics on the environment
(Qi et al. 2020a). Yet, studies on groundwater microplas-
tics impacts are now highly needed especially following
the discovery of the North Pacific Central gyre garbage and
microplastics in 93% of 260 drinking water sources from 11
countries (WHO 2019; Kim and Lee 2020).
Groundwater contamination is a serious threat to human
health and the environment (Redwan et al. 2020; Mehdi et al.
2021). People have become very curious about what could
be the possible impacts of groundwater microplastics on the
environment and human health. Although there are only a
few up-to-date studies that directly address this research gap,
there are many experimental simulated studies that evalu-
ate the soil microplastics impact on the environmental and
human health, which could be useful to indirectly speculate
groundwater microplastics impact on the environment and
mankind's health (Table 5). Reviewing and updating soil
microplastics impacts is also necessary to identify future
research gaps.
Impacts of soil microplastics contamination
on plants
With regard to plants, people’s curiosity is whether plants
can take up microplastics from either soil environment and

Table 4  Inventory of dominant soil and groundwater microplastics shapes

Dominant shape Microplastics size Dominant polymer Location References
range (mm)

Soil
Film Not mentioned Polypropylene, polyethylene China Feng et al. (2021)
Fragment 0.02–0.2 Polyethylene, polyamide Hubei, China Wang et al. (2021a)
 < 0.5 Polypropylene, polyethylene China Yu et al. (2021)
Fiber 0.02–0.05 Polypropylene, polyamide Wuhan, China Chen et al. (2020c)
0.02–0.25 Polypropylene, polyethylene Jiangsu, China Li et al. (2019)
0.0–0.5 Polyethylene, polypropylene, and Shaanxi, China Ding et al. (2021)
high-density polyethylene
Pellet Polyethylene Shandong, China Duan et al. (2020)
Groundwater
Fibers Not mentioned Polyethylene Illinois, USA Panno et al. (2019)
Pellet  < 5 Polypropylene, polystyrene Chennai, India Manikanda et al. (2021)

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Table 5  Potential impact of soil microplastics
Biotic/abiotic factors Potential impact of microplastics
Plants Reduction in biomass, shoot and seed germination of Lolium perenne
Causes root symbiosis and hinders plant growth
Humans (man) Could cause ulcers, skin diseases, and cancer
Live stock Ease organic pollutants and pesticides ingestion
Mice Damages intestine barrier
Microorganisms Alters community structure different degrees
Soil properties Increase some soil physical properties, soil aggregate bulk density,
macro-porosity
accumulate them or how will microplastics influence plant
growth and biomass quality (Zhu et al. 2019). Recently,
Zang et  al. (2020) point out that pollution of soil with
microplastics can change the growth of plants. This change
in plant growth can be reflected in carbon allocation and
biomass production, after adding either polyvinyl chloride
and /or polyethylene or polythene microplastics to the soil.
According to Boots et al. (2019) and researches in Table 5,
the addition of high-density polyethylene, polylactic acid
or polylactide, polyethylene, and fibers to soil can cause sig-
nificant stress in Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass).
Microplastics have a hydrophobic surface that permits
them to act as a vector (Qi et al. 2021). Microplastics can
easily serve either as a medium for the redistribution of
either pollutants, heavy metals, or microorganisms in soil
(Pathan et al. 2020). Wang et al. (2020a) found that cad-
mium, a heavy metal, will coexist with polyethylene and
polylactic in soils and cause root symbiosis and hinder plant
growth. Zhou et al. (2019) pointed out a strong correlation
between microplastics distributions and heavy metals in the
suburb of Wuhan city, central China, insinuating microplas-
tics in this soil’s environment are vectors that transfer heavy
metals microplastics that interact symbiotically with heavy
metals and organic pollutants through adsorption and des-
orption (Wang et al. 2020b).
Impacts of soil microplastics on human health
Microplastics are generally considered to be inert substances,
with low chemical reactivity, small size, and easily absorbed
by organisms or humans (Dąbrowska 2021; Othman et al.
2021). They have even been found in human feces recently
(Wang et al. 2019b). Katyal et al. (2020) documented that
some scientists have proposed theories that microplastics
can penetrate animal cells through macrophages or vascular
endothelial cells. Humans may directly ingest microplastics
in soil or groundwater either through directly drinking water,
or the consumption of animals and plants that have absorbed
these microplastics then transfer them to humans through the
Study location References
UK Boots et al. (2019)
China Wang et al. (2020a)
Not available Sana et al. (2020);
Rai et al. (2021)
Spain Beriot et al. (2021)
China Jin et al. (2019)
China Yi et al. (2020)
Germany Lozano et al. (2021)
food chain (Padervand et al. 2020; Ribeiro et al. 2019; Zhang
et al. 2020c). According to Sana et al. (2020), microplastics
can also either be ingested through human skin or subse-
quently cause skin infections. Microplastics have a variety
of supplements, which once absorbed by the body, can cause
unexpected discomfort or health problems (Magalhaes et al.
2020). Microplastics in the human body might be of various
health risks (Xia et al. 2021). Microplastics may cause toxic
effects, produce oxidative stress, and cause tissue damage
and chronic inflammation to the human body (Naqash et al.
2020; Shen et al. 2020b).
Impacts of soil microplastics on other species
The accumulation of microplastics in the soil has a destruc-
tive effect on soil organisms (Lozano et al. 2021). This phe-
nomenon has been widely studied, and in most cases, earth-
worms are the species often use in these studies (Boots et al.
2019). One suitable reason is that the function of micro-
plastics as vectors of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluo-
rooctanoic acid enhances uptake by earthworms (Sobhani
et al. 2021). Very few studies, especially the recent ones,
report the impacts of soil microplastics on other soil organ-
isms apart from earthworms. It is important to review and
update information about how microplastics affect other
underground life because if these organisms are affected by
microplastics, they will also indirectly affect aboveground
life.
Wood (2020) recorded that nematodes that normally
feed on soil may eventually suffer from obstruction of their
digestive system and eventually die after foraging from soil
contaminated by microplastics. So, the question is: can soil
microplastics pollution be used to control soil nematodes?
A ground residing organism such as the Springtail (Lobella
sokamensis) species may be trapped in soil pores contami-
nated by microplastics (Kim and An 2019). Song et  al.
(2019) found that excessive consumption of microplastics
by snails can damage its excretion and eating organs, and
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in the long run, this would eventually seriously injure the
gastrointestinal tract.
Impacts of soil microplastic on soil properties
In the long run, the accumulation of microplastics in the soil
will change the physical and chemical properties of the soil
(Zhang et al. 2019; Qi et al. 2020b, 2020c; Dong et al. 2021;
Lozano et al. 2021). Lately, Wang et al. (2020c) pointed out
that microplastics in soils alter soil physical properties such
as soil bulk density, water holding capacity (through altering
the soil’s porosity, which in turn impacts soil water dynam-
ics), and soil structures (through accelerating soil water
evaporation by creating channels for water movement). In
addition, Kim et al. (2021b) showed that microplastics in the
soil can change soil organic carbon (SOC) in the short term,
thus leading to an overestimation of SOC estimation in the
quantification process. In addition to increasing organic car-
bon content, microplastics in the soil will also change other
soil nutrients by increasing soil chemical properties (such as
organic phosphorus and phosphate), organic nitrogen, and
ammonium nitrogen (Yang et al. 2020).
Overall, the research results of different authors provided
in this review indicate that microplastic pollution of soil
or groundwater can affect human health, plants, soil nema-
todes, earthworms, and soil properties. Ingestion of micro-
plastics through drinking water from groundwater is harmful
to health. Soil microplastics put pressure on the growth of
some plants and soil organisms. In some cases, some organ-
isms living in the soil may eventually die due to the ingestion
of soil microplastics.
Mitigation strategies for soil
and groundwater microplastics
The contamination of soil or groundwater by microplastics
may be very harmful to the environment and human health,
especially in the long run. Lately, the urge to mitigate micro-
plastics in the environment has grown widely (Katyal et al.
2020; Kumar et al. 2021; Golwala et al. 2021). There are
very few studies that suggest the mitigation of contaminants
and/or microplastics from the soil or groundwater environ-
ment (Tofa et al. 2019; Cai et al. 2020; Padervand et al.
2020). Most of these studies focus on the soil and ground-
water microplastics mitigation by indirectly reducing the
quantity of contamination released from the source into both
environments (Gunarathne et al. 2019; Pasalari et al. 2019).
According to Ni et al. (2020), sewage sludge that is a
source of microplastics to soils and groundwater can be miti-
gated through pyrolysis, but the disadvantage of this method
is that other microplastics might be formed in the process.
Qi et al. (2020a) suggested that a good way to mitigate soil
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Environmental Chemistry Letters (2021) 19:4211–4224
and groundwater microplastics is to reduce plastic utiliza-
tion (plastic mulch) or substitute plastics with biodegrad-
able plastics within the food production system, especially
as they cannot be replaced completely. Recently, Wong et al.
(2020) pointed out that soil microplastics could be alleviated
simply by extraction of microplastics from the environment
either through filters or pumps followed by intensive chemi-
cal or biological degradation in reactors. However, the chal-
lenge with this mitigation approach is that it is difficult to be
implemented on a large scale. Fu et al. (2020) recommended
a better approach to mitigating soil microplastics, involving
researching the occurrences and distributions of soil micro-
plastics on a wider scale and developing a consistent proto-
col. Bilal and Iqbal (2020) proposed strong analytical tools
should be developed to quantify the release of microplastics
to the soil’s environment from different sources, especially
industrial and mismanaged domestic waste management
sources.
Groundwater is the source of drinking water in some
countries, but only few studies have documented how to
reduce microplastics in water before consumption or dis-
posal (Patil et al. 2021; Hube and Wu 2021). The informa-
tion in these studies may help temporarily reduce micro-
plastics in groundwater, as there is not enough research yet.
Parta et al. (2019) documented some suggested plastic miti-
gation strategies to stakeholders which could be useful for
both soil and ground water microplastics mitigation since
both are interconnected in some. These mitigation strategies
include control of production and consumption; the utiliza-
tion of recycled plastics; decrease plastic utilization; utilize
more of renewable energy; and upgrade and garbage gath-
ering approaches. These microplastics mitigation protocols
depend on the quantity, distribution, and type of microplas-
tics in soil and groundwater.
In brief, strategies such as pyrolysis, replacing plastics
with biodegradable plastics, plastic filtration, and subsequent
chemical or biodegradation can reduce the occurrence of
microplastics in soil and groundwater. In addition, it is nec-
essary to establish analytical methods supported by local and
international agreements to reduce microplastics in ground-
water and soil environments.
Conclusion
Owing to natural or human factors, land pollution caused
by soil microplastics continues to rise. Today, microplas-
tics have also been found in groundwater systems. Yet, it
is still necessary to conduct an extensive and comprehen-
sive study on the occurrence of microplastics in ground-
water, especially when the terrestrial environment may
be a possible source of microplastic, as described in this
review. Few recent studies have shown that microplastics
Environmental Chemistry Letters (2021) 19:4211–4224 4219
in terrestrial environments are all over the place, which
suggests that some microplastics from soil may penetrate
deeper soil layers and then eventually into the ground-
water system. This fact implies the possibility that the
occurrence of microplastic in groundwater is highly cor-
related with soil. This review is useful in controlling the
impacts of microplastics in the terrestrial and groundwater
environment through logically and comprehensively pre-
senting issues such as the origin of microplastics in soils
and groundwater, dominant shapes of microplastics, and
sustainable mitigation strategies of soil and groundwater
microplastics globally and in Korea and. Through this
review, it can be observed that the research progress in the
direction of soil and groundwater microplastics requires
more research to fill the remaining gaps in this research
field. The following studies are needed to fill this gap;
(1) Studies that make use of statistical tools and techniques
such as analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation, and
regression to study if there is any relationship between
the soil microplastics and groundwater microplastics
are necessary. As mentioned above, microplastic in
groundwater may originate from the soil.
(2) More research is necessary to quantify microplastics
in deeper soils. Most studies only sample the topsoil
layers. It would be interesting if research could sample
deeper soil layers to quantify and illustrate the migra-
tion of microplastics downward into deeper soil depth.
(3) We need more research that studies the mechanism by
which microplastics alter soil properties.
(4) As mentioned above microplastics act as vectors of
heavy metals or microbes in soils. However, we need
more research to determine how much heavy metals or
microorganisms can microplastics redistribute in the
soil, and whether it is different from the plant species,
geographical zone or seasonally.
(5) We need more studies which can clearly state or esti-
mate how much concentration of either soil or ground-
water microplastics consumption through water from
the groundwater system or transfer in the food chain is
detrimental to human health or not.
(6) Some soil pathogens (such as soil nematodes) died
after accidental consumption of soil microplastics. No
research that can estimate what concentration of soil
microplastic can be used to control these soil pathogens
without being transferred to the food chain.
(7) It is necessary to conduct more accurate researches to
show the occurrence and fate of microplastics globally.
Microplastics estimation studies are still very limited
globally (Alimi et al. 2020). One of the reasons may be
due to the limitations of technology and findings. Thus,
more studies are needed to ensure the global occur-
rence and distribution of microplastics are not under-
estimated.
(8) So far, there has been no study to evaluate if the miti-
gation strategies proposed by studies are successful or
not.
Author contributions  RWC designed the review, interpreted and wrote
the manuscript’s first draft. JJ drew the figures of the manuscript. RWC,
JYL, JJ, and HK commented on previous versions of the manuscript.
JYL supervised and provided technical advice and support for this
study. All authors read and approved the paper’s final version.
Funding  This work was supported by the Research Institute for Earth
Resources through the Basic Science Research Program of the National
Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Edu-
cation (No.2019R1A6A1A03033167). It was also supported by Korea
Environment Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI) through Meas-
urement and Risk assessment Program for Management of Microplas-
tics Program (or Project), funded by Korea Ministry of Environment
(MOE) (2020003110010).
Declarations 
Conflict of interest  The authors declare they do not have any compet-
ing financial interest or conflict that could have affected the content of
this paper.
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