What you need to know about microplastics in industrial laundries
From an little known and unquantified problem just a small number of years ago, the issue of microplastics has gained enormously in visibility in the last few years, as their impact on human health and on the environment has become better understood.
So much so that in Germany, a new norm has been published, Din spec 4872, a standardised test method for determining and classifying the environmental impact of textiles during washing. Although research into microplastics is accelerating, there is still much we need to learn. Even definitions of microplastics are not yet clearcut, although it is generally agreed that it concerns plastic debris of less than 5mm in length.
Microplastics will over time typically degrade further into ever smaller pieces. The shape of this plastic debris can vary, from particles to fibre or hair-shaped. Researchers agree that their impact on human health is negative, and we can ingest them unknowingly through eating fish/meat or drinking water containing microplastics.
We know that an important source of the microplastics in our rivers, lakes and oceans is through sewage contaminated with synthetic fibres from washing textiles. Although the main source is domestic laundry, any industrial laundry which washes synthetic textiles/fibres such as polycotton sheets, synthetic workwear, synthetic mops or mats, also forms the starting point of a flow of microplastics waste, created when plastic microfibres are shed from the synthetic textiles during washing and drying (as a result of mechanical action). What’s more, as plastic microfibres released during washing travel through the sewer system, through water treatment plants and into surface water, they become smaller and smaller through friction and therefore more difficult to trap.
How big is this waste flow exactly? This question is still the subject of much research, however the Swedish Environmental Agency study (Brodin et al., 2018) of microplastics in the discharge of 6 Swedish Industrial Laundries estimates that the number of microplastics released from 1 kg of cleaned textiles can vary between 5000 and 4.5 million. The problem is enormous. Brodin remarks that wastewater treatment at the laundry itself can be an efficient way of reducing the levels of plastic microfibres discharged to sewer, before these further fragment and become far more difficult to capture.
Crucially, it is important to realise that plastic microfibres are shed not only during the washing process but also during drying.
Plastic microfibres from the washing process end up in the waste wash water, those from the drying process end up as lint or dust in the laundry itself, which is then breathed in by those working on the laundry floor. There is serious concern among scientists that microplastics in human lungs could cause health issues.
What can laundries do about microplastics?
Reduce at source
Choose textiles with as high quality level as possible, to minimise shedding
Review laundry processes
Review washing methods and form of detergent used in order to minimise shedding of plastic microfibres, consult your detergent supplier for advice
Remove plastic microfibres from wash water
Consider wash water filtration to remove all microfibres including plastic ones before they are discharged to sewer. Suitable wash water recycling (filtration) systems can both save on water and collect harmful waste for better disposal, consult a specialist in laundry wash water recycling for advice
Be hygienic
Keep your industrial laundry as dust free as possible; clean dryer filters regularly and observe good ‘housekeeping’ practices on the work floor.
In conclusion, your industrial laundries can play its part in tackling worldwide plastic microfibre pollution when cleaning synthetic textiles. Your industrial laundry also has an immediate interest to reduce microfibres in the air of the laundry workplace, so that risks for laundry employees breathing in plastic microfibres are reduced as far as possible.
