Ban on sale of coal and wet wood.

[Broch]

I was considering the sources of particulate matter the other day. If you'll excuse a short diversion from coal and wet wood, one of the local farmers was driving his tractor up the road past us and it was belching smoke thick enough to cause a haze for several minutes even in the stiff breeze. I believe there are around 500,000 tractors in the UK (not sure where I go that figure from so I'll have to check it) and, unlike cars travelling to work for an hour then back again, they are running all day. Engines being used in the country should have to pass emissions tests even if they are not on the road IMO,

 

[Toddy]

I wondered about the particulate matter on another source too.
Tumble dryers. Mine is vented outside, and it's dusty out there. I have to regularly clean out behind the vanes on the outside flue. I know it's just dust, but many modern clothes and bedding are made with some admixture of polyester, and that's just plastic.

We're told that modern washing machines end up putting micro plastics into the sewage system and eventually into water courses and the sea, but I don't think I've ever read anything about the dust from the tumble dryers venting into the air.