Unseen Pollution: How Your Clothes Are Shedding Microplastics
Harshit Mittal
6 February 2025
When contemplating the peril posed to the environment by plastic, your mind necessarily turns to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or even possibly even to one of those creepy photos of sea turtles trapped in six-pack rings. But imagine me saying your clothes contribute to microplastics in a less conspicuous form. Believe me, it’s real. Every time your blue jeans, your snuggly fleece pullover, tiny little pieces of plastic—microplastics—end up in our waterways when you wash them. Consequences, it turns out, are much larger than most of your probably have any idea about.
What are Microplastics?
Now, before discussing your contribution to creating this issue, let’s go over a little background information about microplastics first. Microplastics denote small, less than 5-millimeter, pieces of plastic that don’t disintegrate in the environment at all. Microplastics pass through both water and in the atmosphere, and when in the environment, microplastics have an exceedingly long life span in our environment. Microplastics occur in both in and out of the ocean and in foods, and microplastics can occur anywhere.
The little tiny little pieces of plastic make for a big issue, for microplastics don’t disintegrate naturally at all. Instead, microplastics sit, contaminating water, contaminating ground, and soon enough, working its way through the food web. Chilling, isn’t it?
How Clothes Contribute to Microplastics?
Surprise, surprise—fleeces and your snuggly stretch pants composed of synthetics such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic? In essence, your clothes have been made out of plastic. And the real kicker: when these synthetics go through a washing, little strands break off your clothes, slipping through into the water system. Little strands, in fact, fall under a form of microplastic.
Indeed, research at University of Plymouth in the UK uncovered a startling fact: a single clothes wash in synthetic fabrics can discharge a whopping 700,000 microplastic microbeads into the water system. To make such a high figure easier to visualize, it is roughly equivalent to 1,000,000 individual specks of sand!
The Figures Are (Unfortunately) Staggering
To understand the gravity of the issue, let us have a quick look at a few statistics. According to a report in 2017 in Environmental Science & Technology, approximately 35% of microplastics in our oceans have synthetic fabrics such as clothes in our closets as a source!
Moreover, a report commissioned for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that a whopping 9,000,000 tons of plastic trash enter our oceans each and every year. Out of a gargantuan grand total, 1,000 tons of microplastics enter our seas through clothes washing in synthetic clothes a year. It is not a minor issue, but a monolithic problem worldwide!
What’s So Bad About That?
You could wonder, “But can a little microbeads in a sea cause any real harm?” That is precisely the issue: microplastics don not float idly in the water; microplastics cause real havoc. Sea life, from plankton to blue whales, have a nasty tendency to mistake microplastics for food. According to a report commissioned for National Geographic, over 700 species of sea animals have been proven to have consumed such microplastic particles.
And guess what? Once these animals have consumed plastic, it can cause them to become sick and even die. And most concerning? All of these microplastics make their way into the human food supply. As a 2019 report showed, humans can consume anywhere between 1 and 5 grams of plastic per week, approximately equivalent to a credit card’s weight!
You might be thinking, “I don’t have to give up my snuggly polyester sweatshirt,” and you’re not wrong, but even so, knowing how to lessen your footprint is important. It’s not only about what you wear, but washing it too comes into play. As a report in The Guardian showed, one single washing can liberate between 700,000 microplastics into the water, and that’s a lot of microplastics entering the environment daily. And don’t forget about the fact that those microplastics can’t be removed through traditional processes of treating sewage!
How Can We Stop Microplastics? Don’t freak out yet, I have a few tips for you!
1. Wear Natural Materials: Look for clothes that use organic materials such as cotton, wool, and silk. These clothes shed fewer microplastics when washing, and a little bonus: they break down!
2. Wash Clothes Less: Cutting down on how many times a week your clothes go in for a washing can make a big impact in less microplastics entering the environment during washing. Let’s face it—how many times a week, actually, do you spill something on your clothes?
3. Get a Microfilter Bag: Microfilter bags can trap microplastics when washing, and your clothes will appreciate it, trust me!
4. Wash in Cold: Hot water can destroy synthetic fabrics, causing them to shed even more microplastics. Hence, choosing cold water during washing is a smart move to reduce shedding and save energy!
5. Clothesline Clothes: Try, whenever possible, to use an airer in preference to a clothes dryer for drying your clothes. Not only will it stop microplastic shedding, but your clothes will also last longer!
6. Back Sustainable Brands: Now, in our times, many companies produce clothes out of renewable, biodegradable sources or even recycled plastic bottles, utilizing these materials to produce their clothes. Look for such companies and make your wardrobe selection count!
The Takeaway: Fashionably Green
We can deny no one that microplastics in clothes subtly but profoundly impact our environment, and everyone can contribute towards eradicating this problem. There is, nevertheless, a silver lining: small actions—be it buying clothes out of organic yarns, washing wiser, or supporting environmentally friendly companies—can make a big impact!
We, buyers, have the potential to champion cleaner, responsible trends in clothes. And who knows? Microplastic pollution could become a relic of times gone by in a not-too-distant future. Until then, let’s make wise, responsible choices that speak both style and integrity!
Stay stylish, stay informed—and let’s put the “green” in “greenwashing” where it belongs!
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