College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of MOE, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
Water Systems and Global Change Group, Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, Wageningen 6708 PB, The Netherlands.
Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Aug 15;57(32):12019-12032. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.3c03374. Epub 2023 Aug 1.
Many rivers are polluted with macro (>5 mm)- and microplastics (<5 mm). We assess plastic pollution in rivers from crop production and urbanization in 395 Chinese sub-basins. We develop and evaluate an integrated model (MARINA-Plastics model, China-1.0) that considers plastics in crop production (plastic films from mulching and greenhouses, diffuse sources), sewage systems (point sources), and mismanaged solid waste (diffuse source). Model results indicated that 716 kton of plastics entered Chinese rivers in 2015. Macroplastics in rivers account for 85% of the total amount of plastics (in mass). Around 71% of this total plastic is from about one-fifth of the basin area. These sub-basins are located in central and eastern China, and they are densely populated with intensive agricultural activities. Agricultural plastic films contribute 20% to plastics in Chinese rivers. Moreover, 65% of plastics are from mismanaged waste in urban and rural areas. Sewage is responsible for the majority of microplastics in rivers. Our study could support the design of plastic pollution control policies and thus contribute to green development in China and elsewhere.
许多河流受到来自作物生产和城市化的大尺寸（>5 毫米）和微塑料（<5 毫米）的污染。我们评估了 395 个中国子流域中来自作物生产和城市化的河流中的塑料污染。我们开发并评估了一个综合模型（MARINA-Plastics 模型，中国-1.0），该模型考虑了作物生产中的塑料（覆盖和温室用塑料薄膜、漫射源）、污水系统（点源）和管理不善的固体废物（漫射源）中的塑料。模型结果表明，2015 年有 716 千吨塑料进入中国河流。河流中的大尺寸塑料占塑料总量的 85%（按质量计）。这总计塑料的约 71%来自流域面积的五分之一左右。这些子流域位于中国中部和东部，人口密集，农业活动密集。农用塑料薄膜对中国河流中的塑料贡献了 20%。此外，65%的塑料来自城市和农村地区管理不善的废物。污水是河流中大多数微塑料的来源。我们的研究可以为塑料污染控制政策的设计提供支持，从而为中国和其他地区的绿色发展做出贡献。
