Billions of tons of dye-containing wastewater enter water systems every year, posing a wide range of direct and indirect threats to human, animal, and plant health, according to a new study published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment.
The study, which is the first comprehensive review of the environmental impacts and remediation of dye-containing wastewater from a global perspective, highlights that up to 80% of dye-containing industrial wastewaters created in low- and middle-income countries are released untreated into waterways or used directly for irrigation.
The authors of the study call for a multi-pronged approach to combat the issue, including global regulatory effort, development and adoption of advanced remediation technologies, and changes in textile processing methods to minimize the use of the most toxic dyes.
The study also highlights the potential commercial impetus for developing and adopting new remediation technologies, as industries can create new revenue streams from the processing, separation, and reuse of wastewater materials.