Washing your synthetic clothes ‘more damaging to seas than microbeads’

WASHING synthetic clothes such as fleeces is 16 times more damaging for the ocean than microbeads, a report claimed yesterday.

While the Government is moving to ban microbeads, the artificial fibres rinsed from our clothes are more numerous and more damaging to marine life, researchers said.

The fibres – invisible to the naked eye – are released into the water supply while they are washed and are so small they cannot be filtered by water treatment plants.

Alternatives to plastic fibres include textiles made of waste products including coffee grounds, orange peel or algae, experts have suggested.

But the industry continues to make garments from synthetic fibres as clothing production worldwide has doubled in the past 15 years.

Fuelling the growth is a ‘growing middle class population’ across the globe and ‘fast fashion’ – quick turnaround of new styles, more fashion collections each year and low prices.

The report was launched by fashion designer Stella McCartney and yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur yesterday. It was published by Miss MacArthur’s foundation, a charity committed to cutting waste in the economy and environment.

Describing the impact of synthetic clothes, the report said that ‘around half a million tonnes [of plastic microfibres] every year contribute to ocean pollution – 16 times more than plastic microbeads from cosmetics’.

Researchers called for people to wear clothes for longer periods, use recycled fabrics and even to rent items instead of buying them. More than 55 per cent of all clothing made is polyester – one of the plastic fabrics that produces high levels of microfibres. The damage caused by microfibres occurs when they are eaten by sea creatures such as shellfish and plankton. The fibres also end up in other fish – and studies have found they ultimately end up in food consumed by humans. ‘We end up eating our own clothes,’ Rob Opsomer, one of the authors told the Times.

Plastic bottles can take many years to break down in the ocean but clothing fibres can immediately be eaten by sea creatures and are too small to be filtered out by sewage plants. The report, called A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future, suggested designers embrace fabrics made of waste products.

As well as orange peel and coffee grounds, they suggest using a textile called QMILK – made out of discarded milk – and Agraloop – made out of fibres left over from pineapple, banana and sugar cane production.

Cotton – accounting for 27 per cent of all clothing production – can also be highly damaging due to the huge amount of water it needs in its production.

The half a million tonnes of microfibres cited as being released into the oceans every year is the equivalent of more than 50billion plastic bottles. In a separate report last month, scientists found that up to 80 per cent of British mussels were contaminated by tiny pieces of plastic.

Researchers from King’s College London examined four beaches in Kent to examine pollution levels.

The tests showed 80 per cent of mussels collected at Ramsgate were contaminated and in Herne Bay the figure was 40 per cent.

Although the molluscs are not harvested for food, the results showed that plastic was entering the food chain. Dr Stephanie Wright, of King’s, said the impact on humans was a ‘big unknown’.

She added: ‘Other animals will be eating those animals with plastics, which puts the particles in [our] food chain.’

‘Eaten by sea creatures’