How microfibres harm our environment
Microfibres are so tiny that not all of them can be captured and removed from your household’s wastewater. A lot still end up in the ocean, where they can be harmful to fish and other aquatic life, making their way up the food chain as they get eaten by zooplankton, fish and progressively larger animals.
Ocean Wise has studied how our clothes contribute to microfibres pollution.
Are natural fabrics better?
Are natural fabrics like cotton the solution? Well, it's complicated. All fabrics, whether they are made of synthetic or natural materials, shed fibres when washed.
A
2019 Ocean Wise study — Me, My Clothes and the Ocean — showed that for synthetic fabrics, polyester sheds the most. Natural fibres like cotton and wool also shed a lot. Many factors determine how much fabrics shed, including how they are made, treated and washed.
Natural fibres may be slightly less harmful than synthetic fibres because they break down faster. Fibres from natural fabrics can still be harmful to our aquatic environment if they have been treated with dyes and toxic chemicals. When you're buying clothing, it is very hard to know whether a certain item has the qualities that would make it shed fewer microfibres and how harmful those microfibres would be.
What is Metro Vancouver doing to address microfibres?
Metro Vancouver is educating residents about how to reduce the amount of microfibres shed in laundry. Metro Vancouver is also part of research initiatives — like
Ocean Wise's Microfiber Partnership and University of British Columbia studies — that are working to better understand the amount of microfibres in our environment and where they are coming from.