Comment Great news for septic systems (Score 2, Informative) 68
This is fantastic news for septic systems. The problem with this type of waste is the plastic particles clog the microscopic pores in septic field pipes, leading to back ups. Before artificial fabrics, a septic field could last fifty years. Now many people have to dig it up and replace it every five, or else just accept the need to have their septic tank pumped every five years.
Putting a trap on the laundry hose helps, but is still imperfect. After my last field replacement, I investigated a lot of filters and use the best I can get. So far my last septic field has lasted fifteen years. But a tree-root-caused breech I had to repair where part of it was dug up shows it's only operating at about 50% throughput. So any improvement is a very good thing.
A better solution might be to regulate that all fabric needs to be made of bio-degradable material. And by that I don't mean these types of materials that are marketed as degradable but which need strange and unusual conditions and expensive composting facilities to make them actually do it. We don't have a lot of these yet, but a hard deadline might make that more viable.