What negative effects do synthetic clothing fibers like nylon and polyester have on the environment? What changes can be made to prevent this from happening?

Erin Fletcher

Synthetic fibers in clothing such as polyester are more widely used in clothing than natural fibers due to the fact that they are inexpensive. Synthetic fibers are made of plastics which are not biodegradable and take hundreds of years to millennia to decompose, and are derived from petro-chemicals.

When clothes items are put into the washing or drying machine microfibers come off them. Microfibers are small fibers, roughly 5 milters in length and micrometers in diameter. It’s said that hundreds of thousands of microfibers come off clothes per load of laundry. Although dryers have a lint trap that catches these fibers, washing machines do not. When these fibers come off clothes in the washing machine, the water goes down the drain and no microfibers are filtered out. When the water gets to the sewage treatment plant to be treated prior to release into waterways, the treatment process is not able to filter out all the fibers and some are released into lakes and rivers and eventually the ocean.

These synthetic fibers contaminate the food chain of aquatic and marine species in the natural environment. For example when the fibers are released into the oceans, small organisms like plankton eat it. Fish will then eat the plankton as well as the plastic microfibers inside it. This bioaccumulates up the food chain where the concentration of plastic pieces increases with the animal higher up the food chain.    

Although scientists are not yet sure of the effects of ingesting plastics they have found plastic in the digestive systems and bloodstreams of aquatic animals and humans. They do know that most plastics in the ocean absorb toxins in the oceans and can release chemicals such as Bisphenol-A (BPA) which are carcinogens and negatively affect hormones in the body when they degrade.  

These microplastics could be seen as worse for the animals and natural environment as it is easier for them to bioaccumulate in animals and cannot be removed from waterways as easily as plastic bottles for example.

People can prevent synthetic fibers from being released into waterways by buying and wearing clothes made from natural materials like hemp or cotton which are biodegradable. Although a more expensive option, people can also attach a filter to their washing machine that filters out the microfibers. If people continue to wear clothing with synthetic fibers they can also choose to wash their garments less frequently.

 

 Sites used:  

Resnick, Brian. “More than Ever, Our Clothes Are Made of Plastic. Just Washing Them Can Pollute the Oceans.” Vox, Vox, 19 Sept. 2018, www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/19/17800654/clothes-plastic-pollution-polyester-washing-machine

“How Your Clothes Are Poisoning Our Oceans and Food Supply.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 June 2016, www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/20/microfibers-plastic-pollution-oceans-patagonia-synthetic-clothes-microbeads  

Bird, Sophie. “Synthetic Fibers in Clothing Contribute to Pollution.” Indiana Environmental Reporter, 9 May 2019, www.indianaenvironmentalreporter.org/posts/synthetic-fibers-in-clothing-contribute-to-pollution