Dirt-cheap filter on washing machines could save our seas
PLASTIC pollution could be slashed by fitting a filter to washing machines, environmental campaigners claimed yesterday.
Every load of laundry can release up to 700,000 microfibres – plastic threads thinner than a human hair – the Marine Conservation Society said.
Over the course of a week, the UK alone can release at least 9.4 trillion microfibres from synthetic clothing which can end up in the oceans and the food chain.
The society launched its Stop Ocean Threads campaign which wants ministers to follow France’s lead and require every new washing machine to be fitted with a filter to catch microfibres by 2024.
It has launched a petition to increase pressure on the Government to act.
About eight million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year, often killing sea life who eat it or get trapped in it.
In time much of it gets shredded into tiny microplastics which enter the food chain.
One study found that 63 per cent of North Sea shrimp contained synthetic fibres. These come from fabrics such as polyester, nylon and acrylic.
Dr Laura Foster, the society’s head of clean seas, said: “We believe that these filters will make a real difference to the microfibre pollution in our seas.
“We want to see all manufacturers committing, over the next 12 months, to having the filters within all their designs.
“Government legislation will provide the push which is needed to see microfibre filters in all washing machines in the future.”
She claimed there is strong public support for the move, saying that, despite just 40 per cent of the UK public having heard of “microfibre pollution,” once they were made aware of the problem 81 per cent supported legislation.
The cost would be negligible but filters would occasionally have to be cleaned. It also favours them being retrofitted to existing commercial machines.
And it suggests washing at no more than 30C and using liquid rather than powder because it is less abrasive.
The society says synthetic clothes account for 35 per cent of the “primary” microplastics in the environment.