“Our Clothes are shedding millions of microplastics”- they’re ending up polluting the oceans and ending up in the food chain and water bodies

One major source of micro plastic pollution is the less obvious – our clothes[1]

How does this happen : The washing process of synthetic textiles[2]. Due to chemical and mechanical stress during the washing process of clothes[2].

Synthetic Textiles include Polyester and Nylon

Researchers have found plastic microfibers in a variety of the fish and shellfish that people consume[1]

Humans are exposed to microplastics through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe[1]

In a recent estimate, about 35% of the global release of the microplastics to the world oceans is from synthetic clothes[2]

Once in the environment, microfibers are extremely difficult to clean up.

It was reported that a 100% polyester T-shirt releases between 7,70,000 to 11,00,000 microfibres per wash, tested by gravimetric method[2].

France has recently adopted a law that will require all new washing machines to have microfiber filters by 2025, making it the first country to put in place regulations to reduce the amount of microfiber pollution from laundry[1]

Average individual American’s annual microplastics consumption ranges from 39000 to 52000 particles / 74000 to 121000 when inhalation is also considered[3].

References:

[1] United States Environment Protection Agency https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/documents/article_2_microfibers_formatted.pdf

[2] Research paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43023-x

[3] Research paper https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b01517