: Microfibre Pollution from Laundry: Its Big. Its Bad. It Can Be Reduced by You #IndiaNEWS #The Better Home Microfibres are the tiny strands of plastic that are shed from the synthetic fabric in clothing,

Microfibre Pollution from Laundry: Its Big. Its Bad. It Can Be Reduced by You #IndiaNEWS #The Better Home
Microfibres are the tiny strands of plastic that are shed from the synthetic fabric in clothing, bed linen, furnishing and carpets. The biggest source of microfibre pollution is our clothing. Today, synthetic materials such as nylon, polyester and acrylic make up about 60 per cent of clothing globally compared to natural fibres like cotton and silk. The popularity of synthetic lies in the fact that it is cheap, quick and easy to produce.
Unlike natural fibres, it is lightweight and easy to care for. These fabrics possess other favourable properties that make them amenable to a wide variety of use-cases from athleisure to winter warmers, even undergarments. They are durable, waterproof, stain-resistant, elastic and can provide wearers warmth and insulation. All this make them tough competition for natural fibres that are prone to damage by water, pests and stains.
While they may offer many advantages, these plastic fibres are a big problem, and because they are so tiny, the problem often slips away unnoticed.

What is microfibre pollution?
Synthetic fabrics, the most common of which is polyester, are made of petroleum-based chemicals a form of plastic. When washed and worn, these fabrics shed strands of plastic that are as tiny as 5mm small enough to be invisible to the naked eye. These microscopic fibres are hard to trap and easily pass through the lint filters of our washing machines, through drains and pipes, and through sewage treatment plants into water bodies. This happens whether the garment youre washing is made of virgin plastic or if its a t-shirt made of upcycled PET bottles. As long as it contains plastic, it adds to the problem of microfibre pollution.
One study estimates that approximately 700,000 micro fleeces are released from each garment when we wash our clothes at home. And laundry is just one source of microplastic pollution. This invisible problem is the biggest threat facing aquatic habitats today. This conclusion was arrived at by a study that sampled wastewater from domestic washing machines.
It found that a single garment can produce more than 1,900 fibres per wash. This wide-ranging study, conducted in 18 sites across 6 continents, found that marine microplastic pollution was tied closely to sewage which contained plastic fibres from washing clothes. It is anticipated that, to date, 1. 5 million trillion microfibres are present in the ocean.
When these tiny fibres enter the water, they attract waterborne pollutants, bacteria, heavy metals and other contaminants that stick to their surface. They also leach toxic chemicals into the water. They are like tiny pellets of poison floating in the water. They enter the marine food web when fish and other aquatic organisms ingest them, mistaking them for food.

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