TY - JOUR
AU - Weis, Judith S
AB - Cheryl Dybas, in her December Feature article about microplastics, seems to have missed one very important aspect of the issue—namely, the origin of most of the microplastics in the environment. The vast majority of them do not come from toothpaste, cosmetics, or the breaking up of plastic bottles. They are fibers that are shed from our clothing. Initial studies in which microplastics were collected from aquatic systems by pulling nets at the surface missed this fact, because long thin shapes go through nets and are severely undercounted (Green et al. 2018). Most of these microfibers are derived from synthetic clothing; when laundered in washing machines they shed huge numbers of microfibers that go out with the wastewater. Most of them are denser than water and tend to sink and accumulate in bottom sediments. Likewise, most of the microplastics found in the terrestrial environment (Dris et al. 2016) and in the air are also fibers that are shed from clothing while that clothing is worn (DeFalco et al. 2020) or is in the dryer (Kapp and Miller 2020). With this knowledge, it is possible to point to directions to solving the problem. Improved filters on washing machines, for example, can greatly reduce the number of fibers released into wastewater (McIlwraith et al. 2019). Going to the initial source of the problem, scientists are working on ways re-engineer synthetic fabrics so that they will not shed (as many) fibers. References De Falco F , Cocca M, Avella M, Thompson R. 2020 . Microfiber release to water, via laundering, and to air via everyday use: A comparison between polyester clothing with differing textile parameters . Environmental Science and Technology 54 : 3288 – 3296 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS PubMed WorldCat Dris RJ , Gaspari J, Saad M, Mirande C, Tassin B. 2016 . Synthetic fibers in atmospheric fallout: A source of microplastics in the environment? Marine Pollution Bulletin 104 : 290 – 293 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS PubMed WorldCat Green DS , Kregting L, Boots B, Blockley DJ, Brickle P, Da Costa M, Crowley Q. 2018 . A comparison of sampling methods for seawater microplastics and a first report of the microplastic litter in coastal waters of Ascension and Falkland Islands . Marine Pollution Bulletin 137 : 695 – 701 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS PubMed WorldCat Kapp KJ , Miller RZ. 2020 . Electric clothes dryers: An underestimated source of microfiber pollution . PLOS ONE 15 : e0239165 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239165 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS PubMed WorldCat McIlwraith HK , Lin J, Erdle LM, Mallos N, Diamond ML, Rochman CM. 2019 . Capturing microfibers: Marketed technologies reduce microfiber emissions from washing machines . Marine Pollution Bulletin 139 : 40 – 45 . Google Scholar Crossref Search ADS PubMed WorldCat © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
TI - Most Microplastics Come from Clothes
JF - BioScience
DO - 10.1093/biosci/biab015
DA - 2021-02-24
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/most-microplastics-come-from-clothes-N83UJ9mEq2
SP - 1
EP - 1
VL - Advance Article
IS - 
DP - DeepDyve
ER -