Mexico: Transfer of plastic debris along a terrestrial food chain

Researchers at Wageningen University (WUR) have published a study on field evidence for transfer of plastic debris along a terrestrial food chain. The study was carried out in Mayan home gardens in Southeast Mexico. Due to an insufficient waste collection system in suburban regions, people burn their plastic waste and incorporate it into the soils of their home gardens.
The authors described that microplastic content increased from soil to earthworm cast to chicken faeces. Furthermore, in chicken crop and gizzard macro- and microplastics were detected with more than 30 particles per gizzard. Chickens are very important in the diet of the Yucatecan people (News Item WUR, 30 October 2017).
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