When size matters – textile microfibers into the environment

Abstract

Microplastics (MP from now on) are synthetic polymers (<5 mm) that have been widely found across the environment, converting these particles in an emerging and fast-growing concern. Any plastic product can contribute to the microplastic pollution, meaning that the sources are diffuse and intrinsically diverse. Within these sources, textile microfibers (MFs from now on) have been predominantly identified in water, [1, 2] atmospheric [3, 4] and soil environments, [5, 6] and also in products for human consumption [7, 8]. For this reason, MFs are considered as one of the most important primary MP sources, i.e., emitted to the environment in a MP size [9]