How regenerated cellulose fibers appear in the discourse on marine pollution with microplastic: a snowballing and network approach

Abstract

Abstract Microplastics are prominent marine pollutants that have been investigated in various recent studies. While some of these studies mention regenerated cellulose fibers (RCFs), as part of microplastics or in close connection, other studies consider RCFs to be biodegradable by their nature and hence neglectable in context of marine pollution. This systematic literature review on the biodegradability of RCFs was conducted to investigate how such differences can be explained. An innovative snowballing-network approach has been applied for the review to gain a better understanding of historical developments of and interconnections between according strains of literature. Starting from four different papers the review fol-lowed according references and citations.
Results indicate that a consensus is lacking across research fields on the chemical character-istics of RCFs. The inconsistent use of existing terminology by some researchers, and fail-ure to make distinctions between RCFs and synthetic fibers or plastics in the results may lead to misinterpretation regarding the impacts of RCFs in the environment.
By using more accurately the existing terms and definitions, researchers could prevent read-ers from misinterpreting research results and increase their understanding of RCFs.
Biodegradation of regenerated cellulose fibers was reviewed, and consensus is that these fibers are biodegradable in all natural environments and suitable industrial settings. Con-ducting further research on the fate of RCFs and other cellulose fibers from processed con-sumer products like textiles, as well as microfibers from textiles in general, in natural envi-ronments are recommended.