2. Plastic degradation in soils

Plastics undergo aging throughout their life, which implies progressive degradation. This process is defined as a slow and irreversible evolution of one or more characteristics of the material, resulting from changes in its structure, morphology or composition. .

Once in the environment, plastics are exposed to both abiotic (physico-chemical conditions of the environment) and biotic (various interactions with living organisms) degradation factors that promote their ageing (figure 2 ). Abiotic factors include solar...