By Sanjana Gajbhiye
When we talk about plastic pollution, oceans and rivers dominate the conversation. Beaches lined with plastic bottles have become the symbol of this crisis. Farms and city streets also show clear signs of contamination. But forests? Few would imagine plastic reaching there.
Researchers at TU Darmstadt have shown otherwise. Their study reveals, for the first time, that forest soils carry large amounts of microplastics.
The particles arrive mainly through the air, settle on leaves, and later end up in the ground. Forests, once thought of as clean and distant, are absorbing pollution every day.
Unlike farmland, forests do not receive fertilizers laced with plastic. They do not sit beside landfills or sewage plants. Yet they still collect microplastics. How? The atmosphere delivers them
Leaves catch the particles first. Rain and falling foliage move them downward. Forests act like large nets that sweep pollution from the sky.
“The microplastics from the atmosphere initially settle on the leaves of the tree crowns, which scientists refer to as the ‘comb-out effect,'” explains lead author Dr. Collin J. Weber. “Then, in deciduous forests, the particles are transported to the forest soil by rain or the autumn leaf fall, for example.”
