We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
REMEDIES Citizen Science Protocol for the Recovery and Quantification of Microplastics
Summary
This citizen science protocol equips everyday volunteers to collect and quantify microplastic fibers released from synthetic fabrics during home laundering. Standardizing community-based sampling methods is critical for scaling up environmental monitoring and building the large datasets needed to understand how washing clothes contributes to microplastic pollution.
Fibrous microplastics are increasingly recognized as a serious environmental issue, having been found in marine organisms, agricultural soils, the atmosphere, and even remote regions such as Arctic glaciers. Recent scientific research has developedspecific methods to quantify the microplastics released from synthetic fabrics during domestic washing processes [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-43023-x]. These studies have made it possible torrelates the release of microfibers with the chemical composition of the fabric, textile properties, the type of detergent used, washing conditions, and the size of the laundry load.