Research on plastics in global ecosystems is rapidly evolving. Oceans have been the primary focus of studies to date, whereas rivers are generally considered little more than conduits of plastics to marine ecosystems. Within a watershed, however, plastics of all sizes are retained, transformed, and even extracted via freshwater use or litter cleanup. As such, plastic litter in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems is an important but underappreciated component of global plastic pollution. To gain a holistic perspective, we developed a conceptual model that synthesizes all sources, fluxes, and fates for plastics in a watershed, including containment (ie disposed in landfill), non‐containment (ie persists as environmental pollution), mineralization, export to oceans, atmospheric interactions, and freshwater extraction. We used this model of the “plastic cycle” to illustrate which components have received the most scientific attention and to reveal overlooked pathways. Our main objective is for this framework to inform future research, offer a new perspective to adapt management across diverse waste governance scenarios, and improve global models of plastic litter.

中文翻译：

---

“塑料循环”：塑料水池和通量的分水岭67 20比例模型

全球生态系统中的塑料研究正在迅速发展。迄今为止，海洋一直是研究的主要重点，而人们通常只将河流视为通向海洋生态系统的塑料管道。但是，在流域内，各种尺寸的塑料都可以保留，转化，甚至可以通过淡水使用或垃圾清理来提取。因此，陆地和淡水生态系统中的塑料垃圾是全球塑料污染的重要但未被重视的组成部分。为了获得整体观点，我们开发了一个概念模型，该模型综合了流域中塑料的所有来源，助焊剂和油脂，包括围堵（即丢弃在垃圾填埋场中），非围堵（即由于环境污染而持续存在），矿化，出口到海洋，大气相互作用和淡水提取。我们使用这种“塑性周期”模型来说明哪些组件受到了最科学的关注，并揭示了被忽略的途径。我们的主要目标是，该框架可为未来的研究提供信息，提供新的视角，以适应各种废物治理方案中的管理，并改善塑料垃圾的全球模型。