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taeric parent
I hate to doubt studies, but with advice like: "Invest in a zippered fabric bag and ask the dry cleaner to return your clothes in that instead of those thin sheets of plastic." I am doubtful. I assert that the number one source of microplastics in a house will be clothing. Your "lint trap" in a dryer? Largely microplastics.

Dust in your house? Again, largely made up of fabric fibers. Which are increasingly plastics. Especially so if you have a carpeted house.

I'm not fully against some of these ideas and studies. And I am all for reducing our exposure to microplastics, where we can. But folks largely ignore the microplastic lining in cans, thinking they are avoiding that plastic bottle. We seem to have done a great job of avoiding large plastics in the fear of microplastics. Meanwhile, folks have very little intuition on where the microplastics come from.

chamsom
Fabric fibers get into the bloodstream through inhalation, based on recent studies I've seen (feel free to challenge if this isn't settled science).

This seems to make that cheap polyester shirt infinitely more of a risk origin than some cereal with microplastics.

baxtr
Thanks, good insight. Reminds me of people wanting to save CO2 and then do the silliest thing but ignore the big chunks.

Can you share a good source with some details on where the bulk of microplastic exposure comes from?

taeric OP
Sadly, I make that largely as an assertion that I don't know how to disprove. I do remember seeing a study on it at one point, but did not save it. I think this and tires were much higher than people contend with.

At a personal level, it is just kind of eye opening to see how much lint I generate in the dryer on a regular basis. Granted, cat hair also makes up an amusingly sizeable portion of that source.

If you do find a good read that is counter to this, please share. It would not be the first thing I was personally wrong about. Probably wouldn't be the last, either. :D

Melatonic
Textiles do make a huge amount of microplastics. This has been known for awhile.

As for dust in the home - I have not heard these are microplastics. And given how it reacts I do not think it is.

The tire thing was a more recent discovery but makes a lot of sense - tire dust cannot be good for us to inhale or be getting into our bodies via other methods.

taeric OP
I don't think I've seen too much discussion of home dust, all told. Just going on a general view of what else could it be? Yes, dead skin and such makes up a lot. But as we use more and more synthetic fibers, those are spun far thinner than the thinnest plastic sheet. By design. Hard to believe that they don't make up a large portion of the microplastics out there.

Would be delighted to find out I'm wrong on this.

sebastiennight
You're omitting the fact that cotton and other non-plastic fibers do exist and are a valid clothing choice in many circumstances.
taeric OP
No? I'm pointing out that people tend to not pay attention. Synthetic fabrics make up the majority of all carpets. And are a growing majority in clothing.

My overall point is that the majority of the plastics that make up "microplastics" are not things that people think of when you say "plastic."

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