The Toxic Relationship Between Microplastics and Laundry

Sustainability doesn’t just begin with how a garment is made or end with where it ends up after being discarded. Easily overlooked aspects like how you wash, dry and care for your clothes — sustainably made or not — can also have a huge impact on the environment.  How so?

Key Takeaways:

• Laundering is the key origin of resource use and pollution across a garment’s life cycle
• Washing machines utilise immense energy and water, yet a whopping 90% of clothes that aren't even dirty end up getting washed 
• Every time synthetic fabrics get washed, they release a ton of microplastics into our water streams, 73% of which have now been found in the deepest ends of the Arctic ocean
• Realising that most impacts associated with a garment occur in the laundry suggests that one of the most efficient and eco-friendly strategies would be to change how we wash and dry our clothes

Airing out Our Dirty Laundry 

For some of our frequently used clothes, laundering is likely to be a major source of resource use and pollution across the garment’s life cycle.

The energy needed to launder a polyester garment over the course of its life is around four times the energy needed to make it. 

According to a Cambridge University report, about 60% of the energy used in the life cycle of a cotton T-shirt is related to post-purchase washing and drying at high temperatures. 

Additionally, washing machines account for 17% of our home water usage, while cleaning a garment alone accounts for a quarter of its carbon footprint over the course of its life. In fact, the Electrolux group finds that 90% of our washed clothes aren’t even dirty enough to be tossed for laundering, to begin with. But, energy and water consumption aren’t the only issues at hand.

Microplastic Release, Macro Havoc  

Every time polyester is washed in a machine, it releases tiny plastic fibres measuring less than 5mm into our rivers, oceans and lakes, which consequently harm marine life. Recent findings have discovered microplastics in the deepest ends of the Arctic where 73% of the microfibres are confirmed to have come from synthetic clothes. Other reports estimated that 3,500tn plastic microfibres from washing clothes in the US and Canada ended up in the sea each year. 

In our findings on microplastics, we discovered the top 4 fashion materials that are shedding microplastics at alarming rates. Identifying these fabrics and choosing to launder them in an eco-friendly manner can significantly help the environment. 

Eco-wash Not Hogwash

The realisation that most impacts associated with a garment occur in the laundry suggests that one of the most influential sustainability strategies would be to change how we wash and dry our clothes. We’ve listed a bunch of eco-friendly tips and tricks that will not only extend the shelf life of your clothes but also help the environment from further damage:

• One of the most effective ways to reduce microplastic release is to hand-wash all things synthetics in a bucket
• If hand-washing is inconvenient, then tossing all your dirty clothes in a Guppyfriend bag before putting them in the machine is your best bet. Its unique technology helps retain over 90% of microplastic release 
• Swap out any generic detergents with microbeads in favour of a mild eco-detergent instead. Those pesky microbeads are made of plastic that account for up to 178,000 microbeads per mm of detergent — the equivalent of over 2.5 million microbeads per load of laundry
• Energy consumption can be tremendously reduced by washing clothes in cold water. Research has proven that shorter, cooler wash cycles of about 30 minutes can keep clothes looking better for longer
• Line drying clothes in sunlight is one of the sustainable ways to dry clothes. Direct sunlight exposure not only offers a natural bleaching effect but UV rays also get rid of any remaining germs