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Synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing
Synthetic microfibers are found virtually everywhere in the environment, but emission pathways and quantities are poorly understood. By connecting regionalized global datasets on apparel production, use, and washing with emission and retention rates during washing, wastewater treatment, and sludge m...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7494121/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32936800 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237839 |
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author | Gavigan, Jenna Kefela, Timnit Macadam-Somer, Ilan Suh, Sangwon Geyer, Roland |
author_facet | Gavigan, Jenna Kefela, Timnit Macadam-Somer, Ilan Suh, Sangwon Geyer, Roland |
author_sort | Gavigan, Jenna |
collection | PubMed |
description | Synthetic microfibers are found virtually everywhere in the environment, but emission pathways and quantities are poorly understood. By connecting regionalized global datasets on apparel production, use, and washing with emission and retention rates during washing, wastewater treatment, and sludge management, we estimate that 5.6 Mt of synthetic microfibers were emitted from apparel washing between 1950 and 2016. Half of this amount was emitted during the last decade, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.9%. Waterbodies received 2.9 Mt, while combined emissions to terrestrial environments (1.9 Mt) and landfill (0.6 Mt) were almost as large and are growing. Annual emissions to terrestrial environments (141.9 kt yr(-1)) and landfill (34.6 kt yr(-1)) combined are now exceeding those to waterbodies (167.2 kt yr(-1)). Improving access to wastewater treatment is expected to further shift synthetic microfiber emissions from waterbodies to terrestrial environments. Preventing emissions at the source would therefore be a more effective mitigation measure. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7494121 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74941212020-09-24 Synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing Gavigan, Jenna Kefela, Timnit Macadam-Somer, Ilan Suh, Sangwon Geyer, Roland PLoS One Research Article Synthetic microfibers are found virtually everywhere in the environment, but emission pathways and quantities are poorly understood. By connecting regionalized global datasets on apparel production, use, and washing with emission and retention rates during washing, wastewater treatment, and sludge management, we estimate that 5.6 Mt of synthetic microfibers were emitted from apparel washing between 1950 and 2016. Half of this amount was emitted during the last decade, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.9%. Waterbodies received 2.9 Mt, while combined emissions to terrestrial environments (1.9 Mt) and landfill (0.6 Mt) were almost as large and are growing. Annual emissions to terrestrial environments (141.9 kt yr(-1)) and landfill (34.6 kt yr(-1)) combined are now exceeding those to waterbodies (167.2 kt yr(-1)). Improving access to wastewater treatment is expected to further shift synthetic microfiber emissions from waterbodies to terrestrial environments. Preventing emissions at the source would therefore be a more effective mitigation measure. Public Library of Science 2020-09-16 /pmc/articles/PMC7494121/ /pubmed/32936800 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237839 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Gavigan, Jenna Kefela, Timnit Macadam-Somer, Ilan Suh, Sangwon Geyer, Roland Synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing |
title | Synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing |
title_full | Synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing |
title_fullStr | Synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing |
title_full_unstemmed | Synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing |
title_short | Synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing |
title_sort | synthetic microfiber emissions to land rival those to waterbodies and are growing |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7494121/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32936800 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237839 |
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