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

该奖学金将确定农业覆盖中的微塑料和纳米塑料（MNP）对土壤和地下水的风险。全球农业覆盖中的塑料使用量正在增加，导致塑料覆盖材料降解产生的MNP严重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，有一个强大的野心，转向更可持续的，可生物降解的塑料用于农业。然而，目前尚不确定环境可生物降解塑料的更快降解在多大程度上会比目前使用的传统塑料造成更少的环境影响，因为它们更快地降解为MnP也可能引发更快的颗粒迁移到更深的地方，从而进入脆弱的地下水区域和低MnP降解率的地区。因此，MulchplastRisk的主要目标是量化不同类型的MNP如何从农业塑料薄膜（用于覆盖）降解和运输通过农业土壤，并确定潜在的风险，地下水资源，试图回答以下研究问题：1.欧盟和全球范围内农业土壤和塑料覆盖实践中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性迁移机制是什么？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BPA和邻苯二甲酸酯等内分泌干扰添加剂？该项目的目标是通过提供土壤-地下水界面MnP积累、迁移和遗留污染构成的严重风险的关键证据，改变目前环境和公共健康风险评估的范式。

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.