Microplastic Waste Management in Textile Industry Wastewater

Textile industries are one of the biggest microplastics generating sectors globally. In fact, textile industries are the major producers of secondary microplastics in the form of microfibers. Considering the escalating annual growth rate of textile industries, it is expected that microplastic pollution shall also increase manifold. In textile industry, starting from the textile manufacturing to the end disposal of fabric, each step is responsible for generating certain amount of microfibers. Since the conventional effluent treatment plants (ETPs) are not equipped for the targeted removal of microplastics, these particles finally end up in the surface water bodies, soil, and/or groundwater. The presence of microplastics in environmental matrices has serious repercussions. Therefore, effective management strategies need to be adopted to minimize the microplastic/microfiber pollution. For management of microplastic waste emanating from textile industries, precautionary steps are required at all the three stages of textile life cycle, viz. design and manufacturing phase, use phase, and end of life phase. This chapter will discuss about the various factors that affect the microfiber shedding in the textile industries. Further, since focus on the removal of microfibers from the wastewater is essential, chapter would discuss in detail about the various precautionary as well as corrective measures that might help to reduce the load of microfibers in the final effluent. As on date, there are no specific mitigation measures to curtail the microfiber generation and hence future research focus in this direction is needed. Moreover, development of techniques for the targeted removal of microfibers in the ETPs is also essential. Considering all these issues, this chapter shall elaborate about the various processes in the textile industries that result in the generation of microplastics, and suitable measures that might be adopted to eliminate the same; along with the discussion over future research needs.