Earth Day: Fighting microfibre pollution one laundry at a time

Plastic is everywhere, including in the clothes that we wear every day. As we celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday, people worldwide contemplate ways to reduce their impact on the planet. 

Some people are taking the fight against plastic right to our closets, like Rachael Z. Miller, the founder of Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean.

"Most of the clothing that we all wear is made out of synthetic or plastic-based materials. That may come as a surprise to people who kind of think about cotton t-shirts and wool and things like that, but the way it's all evolved is that the majority of our clothing is synthetic and the majority of that is polyester", she explained.

Synthetic fibres account for about two-thirds of production worldwide, but they are also a substantial cause of global plastic pollution.

When synthetic garments are worn, washed and put through the dryer, they shed microscopic pieces of fibres. These microfibres wind up in local waterways that connect to the ocean. Marine animals eat them, and that can pass plastic to larger animals and humans.

At the individual level, simple changes like washing clothes less and using cold water instead of hot can help reduce the shedding of fibres. 

Rachael Z. Miller has another idea. Inspired by the way that coral filters the ocean, she invented the Cora Ball.  This laundry ball can be tossed into the washing machine to avoid clothes banging into each other and breaking too much fibre. 

"The Cora Ball is designed to protect our ocean and our public waterways by preventing the problem of microfiber pollution", Miller said.

She added, "the Cora Ball does this two ways: One, it helps prevent shedding in the washing machine in the first place by keeping our clothes apart, and that helps our clothes last longer. And when some fibre breaks off, it helps by collecting some of that before it can wash out the drain." 

Beyond individual solutions like the Cora Ball, the textile industry should shift towards a more sustainable production model to reduce its climate impact, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.