ReviewHeliyon2021
Plastic microfibre pollution: how important is clothes' laundering?
Review in Heliyon, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Flowing Fibers: Subsurface Sampling Is Key to Understanding Natural and Plastic Textile Fiber Pollution in Rivers.ACS ES&T water · 2026Article
- Microplastics in human body: accumulation, natural clearance, and biomedical detoxification strategies.Biomedical engineering letters · 2025Review
- Innovative approaches to greywater micropollutant removal: AI-driven solutions and future outlook.RSC advances · 2025Review
- The Biodegradation of Acrylic-Coated Woven Fabrics byMaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- MicroMetaSense: Coupling Plasmonic Metasurfaces with Fluorescence for Enhanced Detection of Microplastics in Real Samples.ACS sensors · 2025Article
- Laterite Integrated Persulfate Based Advanced Oxidation and Biological Treatment for Textile Industrial Effluent Remediation: Optimization and Field Application.Applied bionics and biomechanics · 2025Article
- Article
- Polyester Microfibers Exposure ModulatesInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Microplastic loads in Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) feces-targeting a standardized protocol and first results from an alpine stream, the River Inn.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2024Article
- Particle Shedding from Cotton and Cotton-Polyester Fabrics in the Dry State and in Washes.Polymers · 2023Article
- An NMR look at an engineered PET depolymerase.Biophysical journal · 2022Article
- The coastal waters of the south-east Bay of Biscay a dead-end for neustonic plastics.Marine pollution bulletin · 2022Article
- Review
- Microplastics in Wastewater by Washing Polyester Fabrics.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The impact of fabric conditioning products and lint filter pore size on airborne microfiber pollution arising from tumble drying.PloS one · 2022Article
- Sorption of SARS-CoV-2 Virus Particles to the Surface of Microplastics Released during Washing Processes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Particle Characterization of Washing Process Effluents by Laser Diffraction Technique.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Global assessment of fibrous microplastic pollution: Sources, environmental distribution, and ecological impacts.Journal of environmental qualityReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Plastic microfibre pollution produced by domestic and commercial laundering of synthetic textiles has recently been incriminated in the press and the scientific literature as the main source (up to 90%) of primary microplastics in the oceans. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most common microfibre encountered. This review aims to provide updated information on worldwide plastic microfibre pollution caused by textile laundering and some possibilities for its control. Release of microfibres during domestic washing and tumble drying, their fate in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the oceans, and their environmental effects on the aquatic biota are discussed, as well as potential control methods at the levels of textile modification and laundry procedures. Environmental effects on aquatic biota are important; as a result of their small size and length-to-diameter ratio, microfibers are more effectively incorporated by organisms than other plastic particle groups. Simulation laundering studies may be useful in the development of a Standard Test Method and modification of WWTPs may reduce microfibre release into aquatic systems. However, improvements will be necessary in textile design and appliance design, and recommendations should be made to consumers about reducing their personal impact on the environment through their laundering choices, which can include appliances, fabric care products and washing conditions. Official regulation, such as that introduced recently by the French government, may be necessary to reduce plastic microfibre release from clothes' laundering.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.