Your laundry is leaking plastic

Here’s how to reduce microfibre pollution from your clothes.

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Your cosy winter fleece, polyester pyjamas, nylon activewear – they all have one thing in common. They’re made of plastic. And everytime these clothing items churn in the washing machine, or whirl in the dryer, they shed tiny plastic microfibres which make their way into the environment – siphoned into waterways or whisked through the dryer vent into the air. Up to 35% of all microplastics in the ocean originate from textiles, weighing somewhere between 200,000 and 500,000 tonnes. That’s a helluva lot of polyester shirts. Here in New Zealand, a survey of Auckland’s waterways found that 87% of all microplastics were fibres. Once these microplastics are out there, we’re ingesting and inhaling them, and we don’t really know what this does to our bodies.

Don’t wash your clothes so much

So how can you cut down on microfibre plastic pollution? First, wash your clothes less often. We don’t need to wash our clothes as often as we do – sometimes a spot-clean will suffice. As an added bonus, your clothes won’t wear out as quickly. When you do pop a load on, make sure it’s full to reduce friction between clothes. Opt for a shorter or colder wash cycle to leave less opportunity for shedding. Front loaders seem to be better than top loaders too. Invest in a filter for your washing machine, or an object that plucks up microfibres. The Guppyfriend wash bag and Cora ball are both options, but the amount of microfibres removed depends on a range of factors such as wash temperature and dose of detergent. Make sure you dispose of the fibre-bits carefully in the rubbish. Overseas, legislators are seeking to make washing machine filters mandatory. In France, all washing machines sold from 2025 will be required to have a microfibre filter. Bills with similar requirements are under consideration in the UK and California.

Choose your textiles carefully

Ultimately, we need to cut off the microfibre flow at the source. Part of the onus is on clothing designers and manufacturers to use and develop fabrics that minimise microfibre shedding. Consumers can play a role by considering natural fibres like wool or linen instead of plastic-based textiles. Staying away from fast fashion, and opting for long-lasting pieces is also a helpful strategy. You can also pick fabrics with more tightly wound fibres that are less likely to shed – those that feel smoother to the touch. In contrast, fluffy, fuzzy fabrics like synthetic fleece shed more.

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Where do kerbside food scraps collections end up?

Stuff’s Amanda Cropp reports on the future of the food waste sector as the government’s new waste strategy takes shape. Councils are transporting food scraps hundreds of kilometres to waste facilities, to avoid burying rotting food (which emits methane as it breaks down) in landfill. Some councils opt for composting, while Auckland’s newly minted service will send scraps to an Ecogas plant. Here, your banana peels and apple cores will be turned into fertiliser and biogas to heat tomato greenhouses. From next year, some of the biogas will be piped to the equivalent of up to 7,200 households too.

New indicator highlights extinction risk for native wildlife

More than 75% of New Zealand’s native reptile, bird, bat and freshwater fish species are threatened or at risk of extinction, a new indicator from Stats NZ shows. Shanti Mathias neatly explains why this should worry us all, as it jeopardises not only individual species (worthy in their own right) but also the complex interconnectedness of ecosystems. Looking at the indicator, two things jumped out at me. First, for many species, we don’t even have enough information to determine whether they’re in trouble. Data deficient species like this make up two-thirds of marine mammals, and 40% of the shark family. Second, the indicator doesn’t include all wildlife: notably, invertebrates (insects, spiders, snails, etc.) are absent – but data does exist for these on the New Zealand Threat Classification System.

Carbon capture pointless without also reducing emissions

If everyone on Earth planted a tree, the amount of carbon captured by those trees once mature would be equivalent to the amount of carbon we currently emit in about 43 hours. This is an example outlined by a professor of oceanography to illustrate why reducing emissions is so important. We have a roadmap to do just that: in the latest IPCC report, scientists assessed 40 different actions for their potential to reduce emissions by 2030. Wind and solar energy make the biggest contributions, followed by protecting forests and other ecosystems from habitat destruction.

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Image credit: Pest Free Banks Peninsula.

I’m a sucker for a cute pup, and how adorable is this sweet face? This is Nightshade, a three-and-a-half-year-old Border terrier trained to detect hedgehogs. Under the watchful eye of handler Karin Bos, Nightshade has been sniffing out the spiky predators across 45 hectares on Kaitōrete Spit near Christchurch. The stretch of land has been the subject of intense predator control as part of Pest Free Banks Peninsula’s efforts, and is now thought to be hedgehog free. 

Paws-itive vibes,

Ellen

Got some feedback about Future Proof or topics you’d like covered? Get in touch with me at futureproof@thespinoff.co.nz