Microplastics identification and quantification in the composted Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste

Composted Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) is used in agricultural soils asa source of organic matter and nutrients. Besides, its use avoids landfilling or incineration following the principles of circular econ-omy. It is well established that source separated OFMSW is suitable for compost production, but its quality de-pends on their content in non-compostable materials. In this work, we selected and studied the final refined compost form five OFMSW facilities over a five-month period. The plants displayed differences in collection sys-tems, concentration on non-desired materials, treatment technology and density of served population. The pres-ence of plastic was studied using a separation and identification process that consisted of oxidation and flotation followed by spectroscopic identification. The results showed a concentration of plastic impurities in the 10-30 items/g of dry compost range. The concentration of small fragments and fibres (equivalent diameter < 5 mm) was in the 5-20 items/g of dry weight range and were dominated by fibres (25% of all particles <500 mu m). Five polymers represented 94% of the plastic items: polyethylene, polystyrene, polyester, polypropylene, polyvi-nyl chloride, and acrylic polymers in order of abundance. Polyethylene was more abundant in films, polystyrene in fragments, polypropylene in filaments, and fibres were dominated by polyester. Our results showed that smaller plants, with OFMSW door-to-door collection systems produced compost with less plastic of all sizes. Compost from big facilities fed by OFMSW from street bin collection displayed the highest contents of plastics. No debris from compostable bioplastics were found in any of the samples, meaning that if correctly composted their current use does not contribute to the spreading of anthropogenic pollution. Our results suggested that the use of compostable polymers and the implementation of door-to-door collection systems could reduce the concentration of plastic impurities in compost from OFMSW. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Composted Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) is commonly used in agriculture as a source of organic matter and nutrients. In this study, the plastic impurities in the refined compost from five different OFMSW facilities were investigated. The results showed that smaller plants with door-to-door collection systems produced compost with less plastic contamination, while compost from large facilities fed by street bin collection had higher plastic contents. No residual debris from compostable bioplastics was found in any of the samples. These findings suggest that the use of compostable polymers and the implementation of door-to-door collection systems can help reduce plastic impurities in OFMSW compost.