Tumble dryers shed hundreds of tonnes of microfibres into waterways

Studies have found that all tumble dryers release large amounts of microfibers into the environment, putting new pressure on manufacturers to redesign their equipment.

When you wash and dry your clothes, small particles of clothing fibers come off. Studies have already shown that ventilated dryers, which expel warm, moist air to the outside through the exhaust pipe, expel large amounts of airborne microfibers.

Now, new research shows that condenser dryers, which condense moist air into water and store it in chambers inside appliances, produce a similar amount of microfiber pollution that ends up in waterways. is suggested.

“Both produce the same amount of fiber, but the results are very different,” says Neil Lunt of Procter & Gamble in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. “The vented stuff goes out into the air and the condenser stuff goes down the drain.”

Lant et al. measured the performance of condenser tumble dryers, which are popular in the UK and Europe due to their low energy demand, from a test load of new clean clothes and dirty laundry procured from volunteer households. It was evaluated by testing whether the fiber fell out. Newcastle.

Researchers found that about 340 milligrams of fiber (a mixture of plastic and cotton strands) is released per kilogram of dry fabric. Some of the fibers get caught in the lint filter, while others end up in the condensate or the condenser itself.

Scaling up these findings to reflect the use of dryers in the UK and the rest of Europe means that at least 600 tonnes of microfibers are released into waterways by tumble dryers each year. If consumers wash their lint filters under running water, as instructed by some manufacturers, that number could increase by 90%, he warns.

Washing machines without dedicated fiber capture filters are still a much greater source of fiber contamination than tumble dryers. Rant estimates that water pollution from condenser dryers is 25% of his level of pollution from washing machines per wash load. And since only 15% of laundry is tumble dried, the total amount of pollution from washing machines is much higher, estimated at around 13,000 tonnes of microfiber pollution per year across Europe. “We’ve rightly prioritized washing machines first,” says Lunt.

In France, from 2025 it is mandatory to install a microfiber filter in all new washing machines. Mr. Lunt said similar legislation “might be necessary” to force design changes to tumble dryers. “At some point we have to put the dryer in the spotlight because it’s a big problem,” he says.

In the meantime, if consumers are concerned about microfiber contamination, the best thing they can do is reduce their use of tumble dryers, says John Dean of Northumbria University, UK, who was also involved in the study. . He added that the lint trap should also be vacuumed and the collected fibers should be thrown in the trash.