![]() ![]() ![]() For example, China and the Czech Republic were shown to have very high MP concentrations (1296–6614 MPs/L) (Pivokonský et al. This reflects a high variability in the number of MPs that can be found in tap water. In particular, when the presence of MPs was analysed in effluents from drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs), concentrations varied from not detected to 6614 MPs/L (Sol et al. All these data clearly indicate that household activities can be an important source of MPs.Īnother important aspect at household level is the use of tap water for personal domestic use. Additionally, household activities emit MPs to the atmosphere and concentrations of 4–59 fibres/m 3 have been detected in indoor environments, whereas this value was notably lower outdoors (0.3–1.5 fibres/m 3) (Dris et al. Periyasamy ( 2021) studied the effect of different factors in jeans washing and found that the higher the temperature and the higher the spin speed, the higher the microfibre emission. Furthermore, it has been reported that the use of detergents can increase the emission of microplastics from clothing by up to 1.8 × 10 7 fibres (De Falco et al. 2018) and 2.1 × 10 5 and 1.3 × 10 7 microfibres can be released per kilogram of polyester and cotton textiles, respectively (De Falco et al. ( 2011) reported that an item of clothing can release more than 1900 fibres per wash, while another study showed that one polyester fleece garment can emit around 1.1 × 10 5 fibres in only one wash (Almroth et al. Washing textiles has, in fact, been described as the most important source of primary microplastics, especially microfibres, found in wastewaters (Boucher and Friot 2017 Sol et al. MPs have been detected at household level in items of clothing and furnishing (Suaria et al. More specifically, it has been estimated that a WWTP releases between 0.01 and 2.97 × 10 2 particles per liter of effluent (Ali et al. Certainly, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can remove more than 90% of MPs from wastewater, but this is insufficient, since millions of microplastics are still discharged into the environment every day by each WWTP (Ali et al. Most of these microparticles end up in sewage systems which are one of the main culprits of MP release into the environment (Horton et al. Microplastics (MPs) can be released into the environment as ‘primary microplastics’ (from cosmetics, personal care products, paints, washing textiles, etc.) or ‘secondary microplastics’ (originating from industries, agricultural activities, fishing, tyre wear and also at household level) (Auta et al. This work shows for the first time the important contribution of domestic dishwashing to MP pollution and the environmental benefits of using more environmentally friendly materials in both dishwashing machine accessories and food utensils. ![]() With detergent, 35–54% more MPs were released from dishwasher accessories, whereas no additional release took place from lunch boxes. Finally, the influence of the use of detergent with the dishwasher empty and containing lunch boxes has been studied. Additionally, when a polypropylene lunch box was washed, the number of MPs released increased by 14 ± 3 MPs and 166 ± 12 MPs of total. Results showed that when the dishwasher was operated empty with a pre-wash programme (15 min and room water temperature), between 207 and 427 MPs were released per load (3 L), whereas this value increased notably with an intensive programme (164 min and water at 70 ☌) (1025–1370 MPs per load, 15 L), which highlighted the effect of temperature and time on MP release. In addition, the MP content of tap water has been evaluated in order to determine its contribution to the MPs in dishwasher effluent. The effect of different parameters such as time, temperature and type of detergent has been analysed. In this work, the emission of MPs released from dishwashing procedures at household level has been studied. At household level, clothes washing has been recognised as an emitter of microplastics (MPs) into the environment and it is supposed that dishwashing is also a source of MPs, although little attention has been paid so far. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |