Is your wardrobe a haven for plastic? We take a look at how the invisible plastic in low quality synthetic clothing is polluting the planet.
‘Oceans are under threat now as never before in human history,’ was the chilling warning from Sir David Attenborough at the end of the BBC’s Blue Planet II series, as images of once pristine beaches now strewn with plastic debris and footage of innocent marine life plagued by our waste shocked audiences and fuelled the global war on plastic pollution.
The environmental impact of our ever-growing consumption of single-use plastic was there for all to see, washed up on our beaches and filling our news feeds. But there’s another plastic ocean polluter at large that is less obvious – and it is hidden in our clothes.
Since Blue Planet II was first aired a year ago, a lot has happened in the war against plastics (with a long way still to go). We’ve seen global brands react by announcing phase outs of plastic packaging, and just this week a consortium of brands that produce 20% of all plastic packaging on the globe have signed a New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to ‘eradicate plastic waste and pollution at the source’. Governments are also starting to pay attention, with the EU Parliament last week proposing a ban on certain single-use plastic items and a plastic tax being introduced in the UK.
But one thing yet to be resolved is microfibres – tiny strands of microscopic plastic that are shed from synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon and acrylic during washing cycles. The fibres, less than 5mm in length, are so small that they pass through washing machine and wastewater filters, ultimately ending up in lakes, rivers and seas, where they absorb toxic chemicals and are consumed by marine life before entering the food chain. Microplastics been found in shellfish, salt, honey, beer and more recently humans, potentially causing unknown long-term health impact.