MICRO PLASTICS: THE SECRET SOURCE OF PLASTIC

Plastic is a huge part in the average persons day to day life, not only being present in packaging but in clothing, beauty products and so much more. It is cheap, durable, lightweight and has seeped into all areas of society. However, the consequences of this material are becoming more apparent as time goes on.

 

Ocean plastic has been a hot topic in the past year yet so few people are familiar with micro-plastics, one of the biggest forms of marine plastic waste. Micro plastics are less than 5mm in diameter and In some oceans and rivers levels of micro-plastics have exceed 500,000 per square metre.  A city the size of Berlin releases the equivalent of 500,000 plastic bags worth of micro plastics every day into there water system. 

 

One of the leading causes of micro plastics pollution is fiber loss during clothes washing. With each wash countless plastic fibres from synthetic textiles make their way from washing machines into rivers and oceans. These tiny pieces of plastic can harbour toxic chemicals before being consumed by wildlife as well as us humans, recently 93% of bottled water was contaminated with micro plastics when tested. 

 

However, we can fight micro plastics every single day with a few key steps:

 

1) Wash your synthetic laundry in a GuppyFriend washing bag which captures any released microfibres. We are a stockist of these and you can purchase here.

2) Wash less, shorter and colder.

3) Wash with less intense spin cycles.

4) Avoid purchasing beauty or cleaning products which contain micro-plastics or micro-beads.


As we are making swimwear from recycled plastic it does have the capability to release tiny micro-fibres into the water system when it is washed. We have comprehensively tested our pieces and the amount they release is quite honestly minuscule. However to combat any negative impact on the environment we do recommend washing them in a GuppyFriend bag.

the ocean