Scientists analyzed the liquid waste, or leachate, released by four Illinois landfills and the inflows and outflows of associated wastewater treatment plants to determine the fate of two contaminants: microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Scientists analyzed the liquid waste, or leachate, released by four Illinois landfills and the inflows and outflows of associated wastewater treatment plants to determine the fate of two contaminants: microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
The good news from the study is that landfills retain most of the plastic waste that is dumped there, and wastewater treatment plants remove 99% of the microplastics and a some of the PFAS from the wastewater and landfill leachate they take in. The bad news is that both microplastics and PFAS accumulate in the biosolids that settle to the bottom of wastewater treatment plants. These biosolids must be disposed of in other ways.
The findings are reported in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
Read more at: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
