Electric clothes dryers: An underestimated source of microfiber pollution.

ABSTRACT: Microplastics, particularly microfibers, are ubiquitous, found in aquatic (freshwater and marine) and terrestrial environments and within the food web worldwide. It is well-established that microplastics in the form of textile fibers enter the environment via washing machines and wastewater treatment effluent. Less is known about the release of microfibers from electric clothes dryers. In this study we measure microfiber emissions from home installed dryers at two different sites. At each site the distribution of fibers landing on the snow's surface outside dryer vents and the weight of lint in dryer exhaust exiting dryer vents were measured. Fibers from the pink polyester fleece blankets used in this study were found in plots throughout a 30ft (9.14m) radius from the dryer vents, with an

SUBMITTER: Kapp KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7540867 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature