Textile Microfibers Pollution: Impacts, Behavior, and Mitigation

Dear Colleagues,

Global fiber production, both synthetic and natural, has more than doubled in the past 20 years, reaching 107 million tons in 2018, and is expected to reach 145 million tons in 2030, if business as usual continues. Largely driven by the production of polyester, synthetic polymers have dominated the textile market since the mid-1990s, when they overtook cotton as the dominant fiber type. Synthetic fibers now account for almost two-thirds of global fiber production and for 14.5% of plastic production by mass, even though evidence is growing that most fibers found in the natural environment are natural fibers of animal or plant origin, like cellulose, cotton, and wool. The main uses of both natural and synthetic fibers are clothing and apparel, followed by household and furnishings, automotive, and other industrial applications such as construction, filtration, and personal care. The shedding of textile fibres is due to washing and wear and tear of fabrics and depends on several factors like textile characteristics, washing conditions, etc. The increasing and widespread consumption of textiles have led to the accumulation of copious amounts of these fibers in the natural environment. Research has shown that large numbers of fibers are discharged into wastewater from washing clothes and garments, and enter the environment mainly through wastewater effluent, aerial deposition, or through the application of contaminated sludge on agricultural soils. As a result, fibers are now the most prevalent type of anthropogenic particle found by microplastic pollution surveys around the world, often accounting for 80–90% of microplastic counts. Substantial concentrations have been detected in surface and subsurface marine waters, in sea ice, deep-sea and coastal sediments, as well as in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Furthermore, recent studies have also reported the presence of these pollutants in wet and dry atmospheric deposition. Given to their abundance, it is not surprising that fibers have been also detected in food, drinking water, and human lungs, as well as in the digestive tracts of many aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Adverse health effects due to ingestion of microfibers have been observed in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial invertebrates, but no proof of harm is currently available for wild organisms exposed to environmentally relevant fiber concentrations and our understanding of their impacts on natural populations is still very limited. In addition, a wide variety of chemicals are used during natural and synthetic textile production, including dyes, additives, and flame retardants, raising concerns about the role of fibers as vectors of hazardous substances into the environment. This Special Issue aims to provide state-of-the-art information on the occurrence, sources, fate, uptake, toxicity, and persistence of natural and synthetic fibers in the natural environment, as well as on the factors that influence the release of fibres and on the possible mitigation solutions. Manuscripts regarding all aspects related to microfiber pollution, including reports on the occurrence of microfibers in natural organisms and ecosystems, analytical methodologies for sampling, characterization and analysis of textile fibers in environmental samples, ecotoxicological evaluation of microfibers impacts, the role of microfibers as vectors of environmental contaminants, quantification methods of microfibers release from textiles, mechanisms and parameters that lead to microfibers release, and mitigation measures will be considered for publication. Both research articles and review papers are welcome.

Dr. Giuseppe Suaria
Dr. Francesca De Falco
Guest Editors

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• Microfibers
• Microfibres
• Textile
• Fibres
• Fibers
• Microplastics
• Plastic
• Pollution
• Synthetic fibers
• Microplastic fibers
• Synthetic textiles
• Textile sustainability