Rethinking Fashion; Clothes, Microplastic And The Oceans

      Besides all the styrofoam, food wrappers, packaging materials, plastic bags and so forth that are visible forms of oil based waste entering and harming the oceans, there is an enormous amount of microfiber contamination coming from synthetic clothing. Much of the clothing people wear comes from oil based synthetic materials, including spandex, nylon, polyester, and acrylic. When this clothes is cleaned or washed, it sheds microfibers that are not captured by municipal waste treatment facilities (many places in the world do not treat wastewater at all, and it goes directly into rivers, lakes and seas).  A single load of laundry can release hundreds of thousands or even millions of microfibers from synthetic clothes.These microfibers, like other plastic particles, are not only harmful, but are virtually indestructible.

       Since the world population is huge and growing, microfibers from synthetic clothing is not a problem that is going away. When something that looks good causes harm and ugliness, how can that be fashionable?  Wear less, wash less is a start. Wearing less means owning less clothes, and making sure the clothes worn have the least negative environmental impact possible. It should not put people's minds at ease knowing that already we are consuming, through what we drink, eat and breath, thousands of these plastic microfibers and microparticles in a years time or less.