The use of natural fibers in wet wipes can have damaging effects on soil and wildlife

The natural fibers increasingly used in wet wipes can actually have a more negative impact on the environment than the synthetic fibers they are designed to replace.

Viscose and lyocell, made from wood cellulose, are often used in wet wipes and clothing as an alternative to fibers such as polyester, which are primarily byproducts of fossil fuels.

“These are in high street stores, so you can get them in the ethically conscious consumer sections of fast fashion stores,” he says. winnie courten jones At Bangor University, UK.

However, there is uncertainty as to whether they are truly better than alternative materials. “There's been a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to move away from traditional fossil fuel-based plastics and replace them with alternatives, and there hasn't been much testing of those other materials,” Corton says. Jones says.

To learn more, she and her colleagues tested the effects of viscose, lyocell, and polyester on the soil and some of the animals that live there. Wet wipes often end up in sewage treatment plants along with microfibers that fall off clothes in washing machines. These are accidentally spread into the soil through sludge from these plants, which is used as fertilizer.

The research team is a type of earthworm (Eisenia fetida) changes the concentration of viscose, lyocell, and polyester in the soil. Approximately 30 percent of people exposed to high concentrations of polyester died after 72 hours. In contrast, almost 60 percent of those exposed to lyocell and 80 percent of those exposed to viscose died.

When researchers tested it at lower concentrations that are more commonly encountered in the real world, they found that worms exposed to viscose or lyocell reproduced less than worms exposed to polyester. Ta. It is unclear why this occurs, but fibrous material, regardless of its composition, can be toxic to earthworms.

“Bio-based fibers are [be] “It's not fossil fuel-based, so it's great when it's produced, but we don&#39t have a clear vision of whether it's great when it&#39s broken down.” caroline goshott lindsay at the University of Glasgow, UK. “They still have a place because we still need to replace the fossil fuel industry. But it's important to know that the message is not that if they go into the environment it will be better.”