A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) is performed to compare nanosilver T-shirts with conventional T-shirts with and without biocidal treatment. For nanosilver production and textile incorporation, we investigate two processes: flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) and plasma polymerization with silver co-sputtering (PlaSpu). Prospective environmental impacts due to increased nanosilver T-shirt commercialization are estimated with six scenarios. Results show significant differences in environmental burdens between nanoparticle production technologies: The “cradle-to-gate” climate footprint of the production of a nanosilver T-shirt is 2.70 kg of CO2-equiv (FSP) and 7.67–166 kg of CO2-equiv (PlaSpu, varying maturity stages). Production of conventional T-shirts with and without the biocide triclosan has emissions of 2.55 kg of CO2-equiv (contribution from triclosan insignificant). Consumer behavior considerably affects the environmental impacts during the use phase. Lower washing frequencies can compensate for the increased climate footprint of FSP nanosilver T-shirt production. The toxic releases from washing and disposal in the life cycle of T-shirts appear to be of minor relevance. By contrast, the production phase may be rather significant due to toxic silver emissions at the mining site if high silver quantities are required.

More than 100 million tonnes of municipal solid waste are incinerated worldwide every year 1 . However, little is known about the fate of nanomaterials during incineration, even though the presence of engineered nanoparticles in waste is expected to grow 2 . Here, we show that cerium oxide nanoparticles introduced into a full-scale waste incineration plant bind loosely to solid residues from the combustion process and can be efficiently removed from flue gas using current filter technology. The nanoparticles were introduced either directly onto the waste before incineration or into the gas stream exiting the furnace of an incinerator that processes 200,000 tonnes of waste per year. Nanoparticles that attached to the surface of the solid residues did not become a fixed part of the residues and did not demonstrate any physical or chemical changes. Our observations show that although it is possible to incinerate waste without releasing nanoparticles into the atmosphere, the residues to which they bind eventually end up in landfills or recovered raw materials, confirming that there is a clear environmental need to develop degradable nanoparticles.The amount of consumer goods containing engineered nanomaterials is expected to grow 2 , and the disposal of these products represents an increasing proportion of the over one billion metric tonnes of municipal solid waste disposed globally 1 . Although landfilling is still common practice in many countries, thermal waste treatment is becoming an important alternative. For example, China plans to expand its capacity for waste incineration from 3% in 2011 to 30% by 2020 (refs 3,4), and the European Commission has been phasing out the landfill of biodegradable waste through legislation 5 . These efforts aim to minimize the amount of untreated landfill waste.Engineered nanoparticles are often designed to be evenly distributed, insoluble and stable when incorporated into consumer goods. However, these characteristics can pose problems when the nanoparticles enter the natural environment 6 . For example, the use of persistent chemicals such as fluoro-chloro-hydrocarbons in fridges has depleted the stratospheric ozone layer 7 , and the use of fibrous solids such as asbestos in building materials has resulted in high incidences of mesothelioma 8 . Furthermore, the widespread use of insecticides has seen various fluorinated compounds, dioxins and halogenated biphenyl compounds accumulate in the food web 9 . It is expected that exposure of the biosphere to persistent nanoparticles may also result in similar undesirable outcomes, so the best precautionary measure is to limit their presence and residence time in the environment. This means that there is a need for proper disposal of persistent nanoparticles.With the growing interest in using persistent nanomaterials in products, we need information on the extent to which they are modified and later made bioavailable through incineration. Nanowaste is treated directly or indirectly. For instance, wastewater treatment plants efficiently...

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One of the challenges in using in vitro data to understand the potential risks of engineered nanomaterials 22 (ENMs) is that results often differ or are even contradictory among studies. While it is recognized that 23 numerous factors can influence results produced by nanobioassays, there has not yet been a consistently used conceptual framework to identify key sources of variability in these assays. In this paper, we use 25 cause-and-effect analysis to systematically describe sources of variability in four key in vitro 26 nanobioassays: the DCF (2',7'-dichlorofluorescein) assay, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) 27 for measuring interleukin-8, a flow cytometry assay (Annexin V/Propidium Iodide), and the Comet assay. 28 These assays measure endpoints that can occur in cells impacted by ENMs through oxidative stress, a 29 principle mechanism for ENM toxicity. The results from this analysis identify control measurements to test 30 for potential artifacts or biases that could occur during conduct of these assays with ENMs. Cause-and-31 effect analysis also reveal additional measurements that could be performed either in preliminary 32 experiments or each time the assay is run to increase confidence in the assay results and their 33 reproducibility within and among laboratories. The approach applied here with these four assays can be 34 used the support the development of a broad range of nanobioassays. 35

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a wellestablished method to evaluate impacts of chemicals on the environment and human health along the lifespan of products. However, the increasingly produced and applied nanomaterials (defined as one dimension \100 nm) show particular characteristics which are different from conventional chemicals or larger particles. As a consequence, LCA does not provide sufficient guidance on how to deal with synthetic nanomaterials, neither in the exposure, nor in the effect assessment. This is particularly true for the workplace, where significant exposure can be expected via the lung, the route of major concern. Therefore, we developed a concise method which allows the inclusion of indoor nanoparticle