Clothing and textiles are responsible for 35% of microplastic pollution. Approximately 50% of our clothing is made from plastic: polyester, acrylic and nylon, primarily. On average, 700,000 fibers can be shed from our synthetic clothes in any typical wash. These fibers are less than 5 mm long and flow, with our waste water, into our rivers, lakes, and oceans. Water treatment facilities cannot capture the majority of these fibers, as they are too small.
According to scientific research, microfibers can have significant impacts on aquatic populations, including physical injury, gut blockage, changes to oxygen levels and altered feeding patterns. These impacts, over time, affect populations and entire aquatic ecosystems. And, of course, what our food ingests, we ingest. The best way to prevent plastic pollution is to capture these fibers before they enter our waterways. I’ve seen the reviews on other filters, like bags or installed filters, and I wasn’t that impressed with either the statistics on how much they can capture, or their ease of use. That’s when I met Avril, one of the founders of Cleaner-Seas. She introduced me to Indi, the next generation washing machine microfiber filter. Indi can capture up to 90% of microfibers in the wash, down to the smallest 1 micron, and was purported “easy to install”.
A few months later, when my sisters asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I said I wanted an Indi. She arrived, and I let her sit in the garage for weeks, with “install microfiber filter” on my husband’s honey-do list. Then, World Oceans Day gave me the kick up the backside I needed to go and try and install Indi myself. And you know what, it was dead easy. Check out my installation video below, and consider giving Indi a try!
Other Resources:
New York Times Blog: Microfiber Pollution