Plastic household items and clothing made of synthetic fibres release microplastics. Those smaller than five millimetres in size can enter the environment unnoticed. A small percentage of these particles are so small that they are measured in nanometres. They are intensively researched because they can be absorbed into the human body. Swiss researchers from Bernd Nowack’s group at Empa’s Technology and Society laboratory have now joined forces with colleagues from China to take a closer look at such nanoparticles released from textiles.

To a considerable extent, the released particles are so-called oligomers. These molecules are even smaller than nanoplastic particles and the extent of their toxicity is also quite unknown.
Nowack stated that “With other plastics, studies have already shown that nanoparticulate oligomers are more toxic than nanoplastics. This is an indication that this should be investigated more closely.”

Although the mechanism of release has not yet been clarified for nanoplastics nor for the oligomer particles, the good news is that the amount of particles released decreases significantly with repeated washes. In their next project, Nowack and his team want to investigate which fibres are released during the washing of textiles made from renewable raw materials and whether these could be harmful to the environment and health.