[zw7]

I think about this every time I clean out the dryer lint filter and a plume of lint dust comes off of it. I try to avoid breathing it in but it’s likely some is making it into my airways.

[nosianu]

Try shaking out a piece of clothing in full sunlight. It helps you see the millions of future dust particles that will come off your clothing.

Over the years I found that of all the dust in my home the vast majority comes from my clothing. I deduced that because the collected dust looks the same as what I find in the dryer, and it feels like cotton too (my by far most warn kind of fiber).

That means rooms are full of tiny particles from your clothes, if I assume that my home is not an anomaly (and why should it be).

Direct sunlight really helps to see how much dust there is all around us, and how with every little movement we create more. That does not even show the particles too small to be seen. The difference is gigantic - without that sunlight you don't see any dust and think the air is clean.

I'm not too concerned, since humanity must have dealt with this for a long time. Particles from fire especially, and there are lots coming from even the tiniest flame. My main worry would be chemicals we add to clothes, but given that by now we ingest plastic pretty much all the time, with every meal, with every breath, we just have to wait and see. I don't see a way to end this long-running experiment.

[mike_ivanov]

Besides containing microplastics, the dryer lint is also radioactive

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35990858

[faitswulff]

Since getting used to them during Covid, I've continued wearing masks for situations just like this.

[hedgehog]

I manage that by using a vacuum to clean my lint filter but folding seems to release a lot of dust so I do that next to an air filter.

[cruffle_duffle]

lol I’m sure those masks aren’t full of microplastics themselves. People were wearing them entire shifts and worse we jammed them on kids.

I’m sure those cheap shitty masks were absolutely full of wholesome healthy microplastic.

[jerlam]

The lint is also the residue from your clothes being worn away. If you can, consider not using the dryer at all, especially for synthetic clothing which air dry quickly compared to cotton.

[ninininino]

Get a high-end vacuum with a hepa filter (such as the 0.3 micro rated S-24035 by DeWalt) and turn it on and hold it near the lint trap panel as you open the panel up.