What escapes the lint trap? Dryers emerge as overlooked microfiber polluters…with a simple fix

Laundromats are an important source of airborne microfibers, according to a new study. The fix could be as simple as installing an extra filter on clothes dryers to trap the fibers, another study focusing on home dryers suggests. “Our clothes dryers are emitting microfibers into the air, but this is a solvable problem,” says Lisa Erdle, director of science and innovation at the 5 Gyres Institute, a nonprofit working to reduce global plastic pollution.

Scientists affiliated with the 5 Gyres Institute including Erdle contributed to both studies. Microfibers are a type of microplastic that comes from textiles. They have been found in the ocean, on remote mountaintops, and in human lung, placenta, and even brain tissue. Wear and tear from laundering is a major source of microfibers, which get washed down the drain from laundry machines and blown out into the air through dryer vents, too small to be caught by standard lint traps.

Researchers counted the number of microfibers that accumulated on bits of sticky tape placed near 10 laundromats around the San Francisco Bay Area [1]. More microfibers were found on the tape downwind of the laundromats compared to upwind, pointing to the laundromats as important sources of airborne microfibers.

Not all of the tiny textile bits were plastic – but microfibers made of natural materials like cotton can also carry harmful chemicals like dyes, heavy metals, and flame retardants. After weighing lint collected from two of the laundromats and counting microfibers in these samples, the researchers concluded that the microfiber problem from laundromats may be on par with or even greater than home laundering.

.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl , .IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {height: auto;position: relative;}.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby:hover , .IRPP_ruby:visited , .IRPP_ruby:active {border:0!important;}.IRPP_ruby .clearfix:after {content: "";display: table;clear: both;}.IRPP_ruby {display: block;transition: background-color 250ms;webkit-transition: background-color 250ms;width: 100%;opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: #eaeaea;}.IRPP_ruby:active , .IRPP_ruby:hover {opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: inherit;}.IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl {background-position: center;background-size: cover;float: left;margin: 0;padding: 0;width: 31.59%;position: absolute;top: 0;bottom: 0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {float: right;width: 65.65%;padding:0;margin:0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text {display: table;height: 130px;left: 0;top: 0;padding:0;margin:0;padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px;}.IRPP_ruby .IRPP_ruby-content {display: table-cell;margin: 0;padding: 0 74px 0 0px;position: relative;vertical-align: middle;width: 100%;}.IRPP_ruby .ctaText {border-bottom: 0 solid #fff;color: #0099cc;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .postTitle {color: #000000;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .ctaButton {background: url(https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts-pro/assets/images/next-arrow.png)no-repeat;background-color: #afb4b6;background-position: center;display: inline-block;height: 100%;width: 54px;margin-left: 10px;position: absolute;bottom:0;right: 0;top: 0;}.IRPP_ruby:after {content: "";display: block;clear: both;}Recommended Reading:Engineers turn fish biology into a breakthrough microplastic laundry filter In the second study [2], researchers washed pieces of synthetic fabric in household washing machines, then dried them in household dryers fitted with one of three commercially available add-on dryer filters designed to capture microfibers: one that attaches to the dryer vent and two that get installed inside the dryer. The filters reduced the number of airborne microfibers released by 40%, 70%, and 81%, respectively, the researchers found. So far, most efforts to reduce laundry microfibers have focused on washing machines. But as many as 570 trillion bits of laundry-generated plastic could be captured yearly if every household installed a secondary dryer filter, the researchers estimate.

“These fibers, once in the environment, are nearly impossible to clean up,” Erdle says. “If filtration were widely adopted, we could capture dryer-related microfiber pollution at the source. It’s an example of a concrete, near-term solution to the microplastics problem.” The filters tested in the study cost $23 to $59.95, making the devices a promisingly economical way to reduce microfibers.

More studies are needed to gauge the feasibility of adding similar devices to clothes dryers in laundromats to clean up microfiber emissions there. Other research is ongoing to figure out how to reduce microfiber emissions “across the life cycle of textiles, from design to washing and drying to disposal,” Erdle adds.

Sources: [1]: Source: Erdle L.M. “Commercial clothes dryers: a source of microfiber emissions to air.” Environmental Research Communications 2025. [2]: Source: Fulfer V.M. “Airborne microfiber capture: secondary filtration a solution to filter microfiber emissions from clothing dryers.” Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 2025.