Materials and Publications

It is estimated 12.7 million metric tons (MT) of plastics enter the environment as microplastics every year, the main sources being paint, tyres, pellets, textiles and personal care products. There are  substantial additional quantities from the fragmentation of larger items of plastic that have already entered the environment as debris.

The following document is part of a series of working papers that provide an overview of the fate, effects, and potential mitigation strategies for each of these sources of microplastics. It focuses on microfibres from textiles, which are estimated to account for an annual release of 1.02 MT of microplastic to the environment:

• Microfibres from textiles [English]

Susanne Brander (Oregon State University, US), Francesca De Falco (University of Plymouth, UK), Max Kelly (University of Plymouth, UK), Judith S. Weis (Rutgers University, US), Bethanie Carney Almroth (University of Gothenburg, Sweden), Juan Baztan (Versailles SQY University, France), Conrad Sparks (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, SA), Winnie Courtene-Jones (Bangor University, UK), and Richard C. Thompson (University of Plymouth, UK).

These working papers have been prepared independently by members of the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty and have yet to go through the standard review process of the Scientists’ Coalition.