Plastics seem to be everywhere - in the packaging for foods at grocery stores, in shipping boxes from online stores, and even woven into our clothing. Nearly 60% of our clothes and apparel textiles are made of synthetic materials (polyester, nylon, acrylic), which are unable to decompose. Each time synthetic textiles are tossed out, they can sit in landfills for hundreds of years.
What are microplastics?
Washing synthetic textiles is a primary contributor to pollution in the ocean because they release small, less than 5 mm, fibers and bits of plastic called microplastics. They primarily get washed out into the oceans and can accumulate in the bodies of marine wildlife, the bottom of the ocean, and on sandy beaches. Once they are expelled into the ocean, they are nearly impossible to gather. Locally, they can also cycle through the water system and organisms on land, including humans. Washing one load of laundry with synthetic materials contributes relatively small amounts of microplastics to the water system, but when combined with how much laundry is done over the course of a year, the contribution to microplastic pollution is unimaginable.
What can be done?
Synthetic clothing is often more affordable, and it can be extremely inaccessible to switch to all-natural clothing fibers. One of the best first steps, mainly for manufacturers of textiles, is to innovate fabrics that shed fewer fibers and for washing machines to be built with filters for small fibers and microplastics. For consumers, a sustainable athletic wear brand, Girlfriend Collective, has created a microfiber filter to capture fibers from washing machines before they leave the machine. They also make all of their clothing from old plastic water bottles and recycled polyester.
The problem of microplastic pollution is much bigger than just consumers - fixing it requires cooperation between consumers, manufacturers, and clothing companies to minimize the impact of microfibers on the environment.
Comments