Leftover food waste products can detox contaminated farm soil
Li Y, Wang X, Wang Y, Xu H, Li J
Soil Health
If you've ever used biodegradable mulch film or bagged manure in your raised beds, this research points to a low-cost way to pull antibiotics, lead, and drug-resistant bacteria genes out of your soil using material that would otherwise be trash.
Farms often end up with soil that's dirty in several ways at once: leftover antibiotics, lead, tiny bits of biodegradable plastic mulch, and bacteria genes that resist medicine. Scientists tested three products made from food waste leftovers, a liquid, a solid digested version, and a charcoal-like biochar, and found all three helped break down the antibiotics and shift the lead into safer, less mobile forms. The digested solid food waste worked best at cutting down resistance genes, doing so by feeding beneficial dissolved carbon and nitrogen to soil microbes and starving out the bacteria that carry those resistance genes.
Key Findings
Digested food waste (DFW) amendment cut the relative abundance of resistance gene markers intl1 and sul2 by 77.6% and 57.1%, respectively, outperforming the liquid digestate (21.6% and 35.0% for intl1 and sul1) and the biochar version (17.8% and 28.6%).
DFW and DFW-derived biochar converted acid-soluble (mobile) lead into less mobile, safer chemical forms, while the liquid digestate had only a modest effect on lead immobilization.
All three amendments sped up breakdown of the antibiotic sulfamethazine and suppressed Bacillaceae, a bacterial family identified as a likely host of key resistance genes, by boosting dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen in soil.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Food waste leftovers from biogas production, including a liquid byproduct, digested solids, and biochar made from them, can clean up soil contaminated with antibiotics, lead, and antibiotic-resistance genes, even when that soil also contains biodegradable plastic mulch fragments. Turning food waste into these soil treatments both reduces pollution and gives the waste a useful second life.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Application of food waste digestates and digestate-derived biochar for mitigating antibiotic, Pb, and ARGs pollution in soil containing biodegradable microplastics: The key role of exogenous dissolved organic carbon and organic nitrogen.
The widespread use of biodegradable plastic mulch films and organic manure in agriculture has led to the accumulation of biodegradable microplastics (BMPs), heavy metals, and antibiotics in soil. I...
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