Research sheds light on blended fabric microplastics

A new study by a team at Deakin University in Australia has employed a chemical separation method to precisely quantify the microplastics released specifically from the polyester component in cotton/polyester blend fabrics, addressing a crucial gap, it says, in current environmental monitoring methods.

The team reports how previously, many assessments bundled all fibres shed during washing as microplastics, overlooking the fact that cotton fibres are biodegradable and should not be counted as persistent plastic pollution.