Wood-based fibres degrade within 60 days – study

LONDON – A new study found that wood-based cellulosic fibres fell apart within 30 days and fully degraded within 60 days in seawater. In contrast, polyester fabrics remained relatively intact after more than 200 days and would likely take centuries to fully degrade in the marine environment according to modelling. The scientists used polyester samples from Indorma Ventures and Loyocell from Lenzing for their study.

Wood-based and polyester fibres were exposed to seawater and the associated microbial communities in a closed bioreactor setting, using CO2 production as a proxy of material degradation.