Our compost is free-er of plastic than many commercial composts but that is because as volunteers we try and sort it. Plastic netting or rootball surrounds like this one should not be carelessly left in green deposits as they can snag our shredder.
Plastic bits – whether it is old garden netting, root ball containers, discarded plastic pots and bags – break downdown and contaminate the compost and then the soil.
A recent research paper concluded “the effects of microplastics strongly cascade through the soil food webs, leading to the modification of microbial functioning with further potential consequences on soil carbon and nutrient cycling”.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.1268)
