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Lifecycle of a Wipe: Determining the Contamination, Fate, and Transformation of Wet Wipe Pollution in the Environment
Summary
Plastic wet wipes are a significant but underappreciated source of microplastic pollution in urban waterways, largely because many products are mislabeled as "flushable" despite being made of synthetic materials like polypropylene and polyester. Researchers collected hundreds of wipes from a London river and showed that 99% were plastic, and lab experiments confirmed that wipes break apart into microplastics when wet — with polypropylene shedding more particles than polyester. Better labeling and stricter industry standards are needed to prevent these products from entering sewer systems and ultimately fragmenting into the microplastic particles found throughout aquatic environments.
Globally, plastic wet wipes are common in urban rivers – likely due to unclear labeling about material composition, leading to improper disposal (i.e., flushed down the toilet). Once in the environment, wipes likely break down into microplastics (<5 mm). Here, we assessed the “lifecycle” of wet wipes to better understand their prevalence, transformation, and fate in aquatic ecosystems. In our study, we assess (1) the amount of wet wipe pollution in an urban river, (2) industry labeling practices related to material and disposal, and (3) wet wipe degradation under different environmental conditions. Wet wipes made up 25.7% of all macroplastics (>5 mm) collected in the urban river, located primarily downstream of combined sewer outflows. Of the collected wipes, 99% were plastic (predominantly polypropylene (PP) and polyester (PET)). Among the 72 wipe packages surveyed across six stores and 42 brands, 48 displayed disposal information and only 7 specified information on product material. Finally, our laboratory experiment showed that wipes shed microplastics, with PP shedding more than PET, and more were generated under wet conditions versus dry. This suggests that wipes that enter rivers as macroplastics can transform into microplastics. Our work highlights the need for better labeling and management practices to mitigate wet wipe pollution.