15 Ways to Stop Microfiber Pollution Now

Think of all the garments you make with acrylic, nylon and polyester. Yes, it means wool, trousers, shirts, socks and even your beloved yoga pants. I know? Each time these synthetic fibers are cleaned millions of microfibers are released into the water. Microfiber is too small to filter at the garbage disposal site, eventually entering our waterways and the ocean, which seriously damage marine animals and the environment there.

Currently, seafood in California and Indonesia contains plastic fibers for human consumption. Paper shows that microfibers account for 85% of the world's coastline pollution. How can we prevent this contamination?

13. Pour water into the washing machine. Washing under full load reduces friction between clothes and reduces fiber emissions.

12. Consider switching to soap for liquid laundry. "Scrub the detergent powder", loosen more microfiber

8. Consider purchasing a Guppy Friend laundry bag. In the test, the bag captured 99% of the fibers released during the washing process. These bags will be readily available for purchase in Patagonia for $ 20 - 30

7. I will purchase a waste filter of the washing machine. These filters need more investment, but they will benefit your purification system and environment. Look at this or this

6. Tell the fashion designer to tell them to choose a natural cloth that will not fall down. Please sign the petition here.

2. Buy clothes made of natural fibers such as cotton, hemp and wool. Natural fibers eventually decompose in the environment. Plastic fiber does not disappear

Microfiber microfiber woven with synthetic fiber on yoga pants or wool coat is undervalued and it is an insidious plastic contaminant. Every time the fabric is washed, the water eventually carries away some of the fibers that enter the ocean. Unfortunately, this is also the case for polyester fabrics made from recycled PET bottles (Editor's note: this is an article there are 15 ways to reduce microfibers). Cotton swab with plastic shaft. We found lots of such places in the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean. Where plastics are often washed away from the coast.

According to a Danish scientist I met, one of the reasons for recently discovered plastic contamination is the plastic microfibers contained in clothing. This microfiber is contained in the wastewater sludge used to fertilize the crop - the plastic can be washed away by the rain into the sea and other water bodies. To limit this type of plastic contamination, scientists say there is no need for plastic clothing and improved sewage and waste water treatment technology. Therefore, plastics are now attracting political attention in Denmark and elsewhere in the world, but only our own actions can prevent pollution. Scientists say that this means that we have little or no need to use plastic, and if you use it, treat it carefully or make it not used in natural ecosystems It is necessary to take measures.

According to a 2017 survey of microplastic contamination along the Hudson River in New York, the river transported about 150 plastic microfibres to the Atlantic every day. It is difficult to understand whether these fibers enter the river from the sewage treatment plants and rainwater runoff, or float from the air, but as Napper said, it says "everywhere". Or submarine - it is difficult to get accurate census. In other words, the 2017 IUCN report presumes that about 35% of the microplastic entering the ocean comes from synthetic fibers. It also emphasizes that this is a global problem: synthetic fibers are more common in developing countries, developing countries often do not have powerful wastewater treatment facilities to filter them.