Abstract
Microplastic fibres released in synthetic cloth washing have been shown to be a source of microplastics into the environment. The annual emission of polyester fibres from household washing machines has earlier been estimated to be 150,000 kg in a country with a population of 5.5 × 106 (Finland). The objectives of this study were (1) to quantify the emissions of synthetic textile fibres discharged from five sequential machine washes (fibre number and length) and tumble dryings (fibre mass) and (2) to determine the collection efficiency of two commercial fibre traps. The synthetic fabrics were five types of polyester textiles, one polyamide and one polyacryl. The number of fibres released from the test fabrics in the first wash varied in the range from 1.0 × 105 to 6.3 × 106 kg−1. The fibre lengths showed that the fleece fabrics released, on average, longer fibres than the technical sports t-shirts. The mass of fibres ranged from 10 to 1700 mg/kg w/w in the first drying. Fibre emissions showed a decreasing trend both in sequential washes and dryings. The ratio of the fibre emissions in machine wash to tumble drying varied between the fabrics: the ratio was larger than one to polyester and polyamide technical t-shirts whereas it was much lower to the other tested textiles. GuppyFriend washing bag and Cora Ball trapped 39% and 10% of the polyester fibres discharged in washings, respectively.
Highlights
Plastics are synthetic materials made from mixtures of organic polymers and additives
Five different types of polyester textiles, one type of polyamide t-shirt and one type of polyacryl jumper were selected for the study (Table 1): polyester anti-pill fleece fabric (PES-fap), polyester fleece blankets (PES-fnap), polyester softshell fabric (PES-ss), polyester technical sports t-shirts (PES-ts1 and PESts2), polyamide technical sport t-shirts (PA-ts) and acryl jumpers (PAN-je)
The emissions of all textiles decreased in the sequential washes, with emission values in the fifth wash falling between 1.9 × and 1.9 × kg−1
Summary
Plastics are synthetic materials made from mixtures of organic polymers and additives. In the year 2018, the world plastic production reached 359 million tonnes (Plastics 2019), a number which is expected to still rise in the future. Microplastics have been observed in different kinds of environments all over the world which has raised concern in both the scientific community and the public. Microplastics are often defined as small solid synthetic polymer particles with the largest dimension less than 5 mm and the smallest dimension equal to 1 μm. They may contain functional additives and possible residual impurities such as bisphenol A, phthalates, flame retardants and UV absorbers
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
