Plastic degradation in soils
Soil Contamination by Plastics and Microplastics

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 UV radiation, temperature, humidity, oxygen concentration, mechanical...