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Posted by Alfiya Yermukasheva
4 June 2025Vienna- City of Music, City of Dreams, and the City of Research
Written by Ishrat Badruddin, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Leeds
This May I had the opportunity to present my poster at SETAC Europe 35TH Annual Meeting organised by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe. There is no better time than spring to experience the vibrant city Vienna – the City of Music, City of Dreams, and the City of Research. The event took place at Austria Centre, Vienna along the Danube River – the second longest river in Europe.
A colossal event
Starting with Sunday’s opening ceremony, the theme for this year was “Innovation for Tomorrow: Progress in Safe and Sustainable Concepts”. This was a huge event with over 2900 delegates coming together from more than 38 countries with 7 tracks, 8 sessions, 1860 posters, 450 platform presentations, 94 exhibitors and many parallel events. This event is so well known such that when flying from Manchester to Vienna, the lady sitting next to me was also flying to attend the SETAC event. Got a nice company- pretty sure there were more.
Addressing global environmental challenges
The event covered wide range of subjects from pollution, ecosystem health, climate change, and sustainable resource management, to mapping Microplastics (MPs) at Galapagos Marine reserve, sea depths, and deposition in snow. A lot of research has been done on MPs toxicity, fate, and effect. However, only few addressed the impacts of Microfibres (MFs) released from textiles industries. Despite the environmental abundance, and health concerns associated with MF pollution, MF release is still largely underrepresented.
As said by Yaz Ellis– we all need a character in our story, and for me it is ‘Microfibres’.
Are Natural fibres the solution?
I also got to participate at the Posters corner where myself and up to five other poster presenters with a common subject summarise the highlights of their poster in a 4-minutes pitch, followed by a joint discussion with the audience. The work I presented was ‘Microfiber Emissions from Textile Manufacturing Industries’ highlighting that pre-consumer microfibre production is a critical but understudied source of microfibre contamination. Microfibres are fibres shed from natural, semi-synthetic or synthetic textiles during various stages of textile and garment production, laundry, and their use. As a reference, microfibres are 1/5th the diameter of human hair.
As part of FFN+ and Postdoc at University of Leeds, I am glad I could bring this topic up as there are limited studies on MF released directly from textiles manufacturing, and the presumption that natural fibres are safe to the environment. The audience was intrigued by the number that having screened 3643 papers for the last 5 years, starkly only 10 papers have been found which are directly relevant to the MF released during various steps of textiles manufacturing. Although the global fibre consumption of Polyester accounts for 57% compared to cotton market which is 20%; dyed cellulosic fibres (both natural and regenerated) account for 80% of MFs found on seafloors stating that the global consumption, and the MF shedding are two different things. Polyester is mostly consumed however natural fibres are mostly dominant in the system.
The audience raised a very good point stating that natural fibres-based textiles for instance a cotton shirt would be safer to the environment as they are degradable so we don’t have to do the aftermath. Yes! This is true as natural fibres may not be inherently harmful to flora and fauna, but the use of textile auxiliaries, dyes, and finishes during textile processing permanently change fibre structure and their subsequent effects on degradation within the environment raising concerns over their environmental and human impacts. The size (< 5 mm), and environmental abundance of MFs increase their potential ingestion and toxicity to aquatic organisms. When left in environment, these natural MFs can act as vectors carrying pollutants, metals and other harmful chemicals. This came as a surprise to many.
Call for action
Fellow scientists were very much engaged into the conversation of how MF shedding during textile manufacturing, demonstrates an important but underappreciated source of MF pollution. Therefore, more stringent research into this area is needed to fully map MF emissions throughout the supply chain and to ensure adequate process design and remediation methodologies are implemented.
Safer by Design manufacturing: Controlling the MF shedding at pre-consumer stage rather than post-consumer stage where MF filters are installed on washing machine as they would intercept MF before they reach wastewater. However, the fate of the captured MF on washing machine filters is uncertain as they could be disposed off in landfills or used as Bio composites.
Science-Policy panel: Focusing on scientific knowledge holder network where scientists, government, and policy makers come forward addressing the potential contaminants. As per 2020 UNEP report actions have been taken to limit the MP use in cosmetics and personal care products. However, the natural MFs are not in the equation. Therefore, more research is needed to map natural MFs released from textiles, and study their fate, effect, and long-term impact in the environment. This would add as evidence to create policies around the results obtained ensuring international science-based assessment of MFs to increase gravity for action, in a timely manner.
Gala Dinner Event
The day was wrapped up with Strauss dinner show with an orchestra of top Vienna musicians as Vienna celebrates the 200th birthday of The King of Waltz, Johann Strauss, an extra reason to soak up the city’s unique charm.
