Kitchen Garden Forum

Something for the magazine to write about, maybe an interview with one of the research team?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/12/worms-fail-to-thrive-in-soil-containing-microplastics-study

This is interesting Stephen and obviously concerning as it's a similar story to how fish and other marine creatures are being affected by micro plastics in the oceans.

What is is worrying is the mention of micro plastics in manures. It would seem that whilst many of us are adding manure from various sources to enhance our soil, we could actually be harming it unwittingly if it's full of micro plastics from various sewage sources.
So effectively gardeners are damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

I try to garden and grow my vegetables as organically as possible and curiously wonder how many microfibres I have in my soil. I suppose one of the best judges of that would be how many worms can be found in it, although there is no easy way of telling how healthy your worms are.

I have just read that article, Stephen, and does sound rather alarming. The problem is that, however much an individual can try to avoid using plastic, it appears from everywhere in different forms and seems quite unavoidable. I do pride myself on being kind to our soil, treating and nourishing it like a favourite child, but now it seems I might also be poisoning it.

I've got macroplastics in my soil - all the twinkly bits from shredding window envelopes - I wonder if they matter.

Geoff, do you shred and compost a lot of your surplus paper then?

I shred anything I can get through the shredder and tear up tougher stuff like cardboard. I have a lot of grass clippings and shredded stuff helps open it up.

I used to shred the window envelopes until I got fed up removing the plastic strips from my compost. I now tear off the plastic window before shredding.