The Rising Concern of Microfibres in Food Materials

Synthetic materials used in clothing & textiles such as polyester, acrylic, and nylon represent about 60% of clothing material worldwide. Of this 60% of synthetic materials, polyester is the most used.

- Sandhya Devi A’, Dr. Ishita Auddy*

What are microfibers?

These man-made materials are highly popular and usually chosen by the fashion industry because of their availability, durability, resistance, and affordability. When manufactured, washed, and worn, synthetic clothes & textiles shed tiny plastic fibers that end up in the environment. Plastic that ends up in the environment does not biodegrade: it fragmentizes into smaller pieces. These tiny pieces, called microfibers, are smaller than 5 mm and usually not visible to the naked eye.

Microfiber pollution through washing & wearing

Plastic particles washed off from products such as synthetic clothes & textiles contribute to 35% of primary microplastics polluting our oceans, according to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Primary microplastics are directly released into the environment as small plastic particles (< 5 mm size). On the contrary, secondary microplastics are not directly released. into the environment, but they originate from the degradation of large plastic into smaller plastic fragments. Every time we do our laundry, an average of 9 million microfibers are released into wastewater treatment plants, which cannot retrieve them and end up in the ocean. Also, plastic fibers are constantly released into the air just by wearing synthetic clothes. Research studies have proven that we are eating and drinking plastic and that plastic fibers are even raining down from the sky. We are breathing in at least 13,000 to 68,000 plastic microfibers from our clothing, carpets, curtains, and other textiles per year. This ubiquitous microfiber pollution's consequences seem disastrous to animals and humans.

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