Microplastics From Washing Clothes Could Be Hurting Your Tomatoes

A new study from Cornell and University of Toronto researchers has found that polyester microfibers shed from synthetic clothing during laundry can interfere with cherry tomato plant development [non-paywalled source] when these particles accumulate in agricultural soil. Plants grown in contaminated soil were 11% less likely to emerge, grew smaller and took several days longer to flower and ripen. Household laundry is a leading source of this contamination. Treated sewage sludge retains roughly 90% of microfibers from washers, and farmers in some countries apply this material to up to 75% of cropland as fertilizer. Some scientists have questioned the methodology. Willie Peijnenburg, a professor of environmental toxicology at Leiden University, told WaPo the microfiber concentration used was much higher than field observations. His research suggests plants primarily absorb microplastics through airborne particles entering leaf stomata rather than through soil.

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