Microfibres that come off textiles during washing account for a huge proportion of land-based plastic pollution. It is not only in water that plastic litter accumulates. When washing, tiny pieces of synthetic fibres are mechanically torn off. On their way from the wash water to the sewage treatment plant, microfibres can become part of the sewage sludge, which can be spread on the land or deposited in rubbish dumps. Since the 1950s, nearly 6 million tonnes of synthetic microfibres have been released into the environment from laundering, half of this in the last ten years. Fashion slowly, if only for the sake of your liver.
