Fashion faux pas as microplastics are traced to synthetic textiles

According to IMechE, 35 per cent of microplastics released into our oceans come from synthetic textiles, with a typical 5kg wash load of polyester fabrics producing six million microfibres. The report, Engineering Out Fashion Waste, urges the garment industry to invest in new environmentally-friendly materials, as well as to tackle the enormous waste problem the sector engenders. IMechE claims that three-fifths of all clothing is discarded within a year of being produced, either sent to landfill or incinerated.

“We need to build on existing industry initiatives and fundamentally rethink the way clothes are manufactured, right down to the fibres that are used,” said IMechE’s Aurelie Hulse, lead author of the report.

“Garments should be created so they don’t fall apart at the seams and so that they can be recycled after they have been worn for many years. Fabrics should be designed not to shed microfibres when washed and industry needs look at how efficiencies can be made in the cutting process, which currently sees 60bn m2 of cut-off material discarded on factory floors each year.”