The treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) as a possible source of micro- and nano-plastics and bioplastics in agroecosystems: a review

Bandini, Francesca; Taskin, Eren; Bellotti, Gabriele; Vaccari, Filippo; Misci, Chiara; Guerrieri, Maria Chiara; Cocconcelli, Pier Sandro; Puglisi, Edoardo

doi:10.1186/s40538-021-00269-w

Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture

Table 2 Summary of anaerobic digestion and aerobic composting as two of the main OFMSW treatment operations

From: The treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) as a possible source of micro- and nano-plastics and bioplastics in agroecosystems: a review

	Parameters	Effects of plastics	Effects of bioplastics	Refs.
Anaerobic Digestion	Dry matter content of the substrate (dry, wet and semi-dry digestion) Average temperature and fermentation process (psychrophilic, mesophilic and thermophilic processes) Loading system for substrate (continuous or batch) Number of reactors (one-stage or multi-stage technologies) Type of reactors (vertical, horizontal, mixing technology)	Increased surface area of plastics led to greater reduction in biogas yields Accumulation at the liquid surface of the digester Stretch out the process Clog the pumps Wrap around stirrers Lowering of sewage sludge quality due to the presence of MPs Reduced contact of microbes and food waste Release of plasticizers, stabilizers, and flame retardants in sludge Plasticizers negatively affect hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis Modification of microbial communities involved	Decrease in biogas yields Stretch out the process Clog the pumps Wrap around stirrers Lowering of sewage sludge quality due to the presence of MBPs Modification of microbial communities involved	[55, 102, 103, 155,156,157,158,159]
Composting	Feedstock properties (moisture content, C/N ratio, density) pH value Temperature Aeration/oxygen supply CO₂ production Odor generation	Lowering of compost quality due to the presence of MPs Need for sieving, manual sorting or magnetic separation before or after composting Modification of microbial communities involved	Lowering of compost quality due to the presence of MPs Need for sieving, manual sorting or magnetic separation before or after composting Modification of microbial communities involved	[103, 159, 160]

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