The pollution of soils by plastic is a global issue of increasing concern to scientific communities and the public alike. Soils are a major sink for plastics, with agricultural land ranking among the most polluted land-use categories. Despite this, significant knowledge gaps remain concerning the analysis of plastic in soil, its sources, and its fate. This session seeks to bridge these knowledge gaps, which is an essential step towards improving risk assessments, informing policies, guiding agricultural practices and industrial strategies to mitigate plastic pollution and its environmental impact. We welcome contributions from observational, monitoring, laboratory, and modelling studies from urban settings, agroecosystems, and soil interfaces between different environmental compartments, covering all scales from nano- to macroplastics, with a focus on:
• Detection of plastics in soil systems: methods for sampling, detection, and quantification of plastic pollution in soils
• Distribution and source apportionment: monitoring efforts and source apportionment, spatio-temporal patterns
• Transport dynamics of plastics: transport of plastics and their co-transport with other contaminants from soil to other environmental compartments
• Degradation of plastic in soil: physical and chemical degradation, photodegradation, biodegradation, additive leaching, and the sorption processes of other chemicals
• Impact of plastic on soil ecosystems: physical and chemical interactions between soil and plastic particles, eco-toxicological effects of plastics and/or their leached additives on soil properties, soil health, plant growth and soil fauna
• Economic and policy perspectives: economic drivers for agricultural plastic use, designing solutions, and supporting policies and regulations for reducing and sustainably managing agricultural plastics
Research related to, but not explicitly listed above, may also be considered.