Identifying the risks of micro- and nanoplastics (MnP) from agricultural mulching to groundwater

这项研究将确定农业覆盖对土壤和地下水的微纳米塑料（MnP）的风险。在全球范围内，用于农业覆盖的塑料使用量正在增加，塑料覆盖材料的退化造成严重的MnP风险，影响土壤和地下水资源，对粮食安全和水质产生不利影响。因此，人们有强烈的雄心，要朝着更可持续的、可生物降解的农业塑料的方向发展。然而，与目前使用的传统塑料相比，环境生物降解塑料的更快降解在多大程度上对环境造成的影响会更小，这还有待确定，因为它们更快地降解为MnP也可能引发更快的颗粒运输，从而进入更深的深度，从而进入脆弱的地下水区和MnP降解率低的地区。因此，MulchplastRisk的主要目标是量化来自农业塑料布（用于覆盖）的不同类型的MnP如何在农业土壤中降解和运输，并通过尝试回答以下研究问题来确定地下水资源的潜在风险：在欧盟和全球范围内，农业土壤和塑料覆盖中MnP的来源、类型和暴露途径是什么？2. MnP在土壤中的主要降解途径和相关的粒径依赖转运机制是什么？3. MnP在不同水文气候条件下的降解如何导致特定环境和公众关注的塑料添加剂的释放，特别是内分泌干扰添加剂，如双酚a和邻苯二甲酸盐？该项目的目标是通过提供有关土壤-地下水界面MnP积累、运输和遗留污染构成严重风险的关键证据，改变目前环境和公共卫生风险评估的模式。

This fellowship is going to identify the risks of micro- and nanoplastics (MnP) from agricultural mulching to soils and groundwater.Plastic use for mulching in agriculture is increasing globally, causing severe risks of MnP from the degradation of plastic mulchingmaterials to affect soil and groundwater resources, with detrimental effects for food security and water quality. There is therefore astrong ambition to move towards more sustainable, biodegradable plastics for use in agriculture. It is, however, yet to be determinedto what degree faster degradation of environmentally biodegradable plastics will cause less environmental impact than currentlyused conventional plastics, given that their faster degradation into MnP may also trigger faster particle transport into greater depthsand thus, towards vulnerable groundwater zones and areas of low MnP degradation rates. The main goal of MulchplastRisk istherefore to quantify how different types of MnP originating from agricultural plastic sheets (for mulching) degrade and transportalong their passage through agricultural soils and determine potential risk for groundwater resources by attempting to answer thefollowing research questions: 1. What are the sources, types and exposure routes of MnP in agricultural soils and plastic mulchingpractices at EU and global scales? 2. What are the main degradation pathways and associated particle-size dependent transportmechanisms of MnP in soils? 3. How does MnP degradation under different hydroclimatological conditions lead to the release ofplastic additives of specific environmental and public concerns, in particular of endocrine disrupting additives such as BPA andphthalates? The ambition of this project is to shift current paradigms in environmental and public health risk assessment by providingcrucial evidence of the severe risks constituted by MnP accumulation, transport and legacy pollution at the soil-groundwaterinterface.