1. Sources of soil contamination by plastics

1.1 Organic waste products

Although very recent, the scientific literature on soil contamination by plastics has focused on agricultural soils. One of the main routes by which plastics enter agricultural soils is through the spreading of plastic-contaminated organic waste products (or ORPs). These include organic waste and/or by-products from households, the agri-food industry, urban activities and agriculture. The term PRO thus encompasses livestock effluents, methanization digestates, composts, green waste, urban and rural wastewater treatment plant sludge (or biosolids), paper mill sludge, etc.