This review explores the hidden hazards associated with the reuse of treated wastewater and sewage sludge in agriculture while proposing mitigation strategies. It examines the origins and pathways of microplastics (MPs) in wastewater treatment plants and how these pollutants infiltrate agricultural ecosystems. The review assesses the effectiveness of MP removal from wastewater and its fate in soil after reuse, highlighting contamination dynamics and the need for proactive measures. Introducing soil remediation methods is crucial for addressing this issue. Alarming evidence of MPs in human blood, testis, semen, and placenta underscores the urgency for solutions, revealing significant threats to human health, particularly reproductive health. The review advocates for sustainable agricultural practices and effective soil remediation strategies to mitigate MP contamination, promoting environmental preservation, food safety, and human health protection. Graphical Abstract

Expenditure for waste collection and transport in Tunisia constitutes 75–100% of the total solid waste management budget. In this study, optimized scenarios were developed using ArcGIS Network Analyst tool in order to improve the efficiency of waste collection and transportation in the district Cité El Habib of Sfax city, Tunisia. Geographic Information System (GIS) was created based on data collection and GPS tracking (collection route/bins position). The actual state (Scenario S0) was evaluated, and by modifying its particular parameters, other scenarios were generated and analyzed to identify optimal routes: S1, route optimized with the same working resources (change of stops sequencing only); S2, route optimized with change of vehicles; and S3, route optimized with change of collection method (vehicles and reallocation of bins). The results showed that the three scenarios guarantee savings compared to S0 in terms of collection time (14%, 57%, and 57% for S1, S2, and S3, resp.) and distance (13.5%, 13.5%, and 40.5% for S1, S2, and S3, resp.). Thus, a direct impact on fuel consumption can be expected with savings of 16%, 20%, and 48% for S1, S2, and S3, respectively, without mentioning the additional benefits related to CO₂emissions, hours of work, vehicles wear/maintenance, and so forth.

The marine environment is constantly at risk of pollution by hydrocarbon spills that requires its cleanup to protect the environment and human health. Posidonia oceanica (L.) (PO) beach balls, which are characteristic of the Mediterranean Sea and abundant on the beaches, are used as biosorbent to remove hydrocarbons from the sea. The impact of several factors such as oil concentration, time sorption, and weight sorbent was investigated to determine the oil and water sorption capacity for raw and milled P. oceanica fibers. The study of kinetic models for initial crude oil concentration of 2.5, 5, 8.8, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40 g/L revealed that crude uptake followed the pseudo-first-order model while, for isotherm models, the crude uptake onto the P. oceanica tended to fit the Langmuir model. Experiments were performed according to two systems: a pure oil and pure water system and a mixed oil/water system. For the dry system (pure oil and pure water), the maximum oil and water sorption capacity of raw and milled fibers was found to be 5.5 g/g and 14 g/g for oil and 14.95 g/g and 15.84 g/g for water, respectively, whereas, in the mixed oil/water system, the maximum oil and water sorption capacity was estimated as 4.74 g/g, 12.80 g/g and 7.41 g/g, 8.31 g/g, respectively. The results showed that, in spite of their absorbency of a lot of water, the milled fibers with grain size ranging between 0.5 mm and 1 mm might be the relevant sorbent for the elimination of crude oil from seawater thanks to its efficient sorption capacity and low cost.