News
New feature by Andreas Cramer and Andrea Carminati in csa news | The Incredible Shrinking Polymer - What Is Happening in Soils as Plastics Transform into Ever Smaller Pieces?
02.02.2023
Congratulations to the B06 Team | Andreas Cramer & Andrea Carminati | Their article "Microplastic induces soil water repellency and limits capillary flow" in the Vadose Zone Journal was highlighted in CSA news:
Plastics have been so ubiquitous in our lives for so long that it’s hard to imagine our world without them. In agriculture, they are so widespread and invaluable that the term plasticulture was coined to describe them. But as we produce hundreds of millions of tons of plastic products every year, they are piling up all around us, albeit in often unrecognizable or invisible forms. Although more conspicuous ocean plastics raised louder alarms initially, the pollution beneath our feet and among our crops has drawn the scrutiny of more and more soil scientists. In this article, we hear from some of the researchers examining how plastics impact soils and crops as they degrade from plastic mulch, masks, and latte cups into new and smaller forms.
- Click here for the fulltext and the video short
- Click here for the highlighted CRC 1357 publication "Microplastic induces soil water repellency and limits capillary flow" in the Vadose Zone Journal