Citizen Scientists needed: Dryer Vent Microplastics Study.
We want to know if clothes dryers emit small bits of plastics (called microplastics, or microfibers from synthetic clothing) into the environment, and we need your help.
Last year, Desert Research Institute and the League to Save Lake Tahoe detected microplastics in Lake Tahoe for the first time ever, and many of them were microfibers. This discovery revealed that microplastic pollution is not just present in oceans, but also to in mountains and lakes, including highly protected areas like Lake Tahoe.
Now, we are investigating the question: Are dryer vents a source of microplastics into Lake Tahoe?
Dryers vent lint and other particulates into the atmosphere which potentially include small plastic particles –and much of the time there is little to no way to prevent plastic particles from reaching the air, land, or water. We hypothesize that one potential source of microfibers to Lake Tahoe is dryer vent emissions.
