Once plastics end up in the environment—like in soil, compost, or landfills—they start to break down or “weather” due to exposure to sunlight, water, microbes, and other conditions. This weathering changes the plastic’s surface, structure, and strength, eventually causing it to fragment into microplastics or even smaller particles.
This study reviews what we currently know about how plastics change over time in terrestrial (land-based) environments, especially focusing on:
How researchers study weathering, particularly using scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Where data comes from: mostly from landfills, with very limited information for soils
How color and thickness of the plastic can change how quickly it breaks down
The fact that weathering tends to follow similar patterns across different environments
The study highlights how plastic doesn’t just “stay the same” in nature. It physically and chemically changes, affecting how long it lasts and how harmful it might become. We need more long-term studies, especially in soil environments, to fully understand how plastics behave and impact ecosystems over time.
Click HERE to read the full study