I found a 2023 followup from Patagonia:<p><a href="https://www.patagonia.com/stories/toward-an-end-to-microfiber-pollution/story-141340.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.patagonia.com/stories/toward-an-end-to-microfibe...</a><p>They still make fleece clothes, but they recommend washing less and have funded or sell filters to capture the microfibers.
From all the studies I have found, the biggest contributor to micro plastics is tires making up almost 80% of the pollution.<p>I wonder what percent synthetic clothing material contributes to the overall micro plastic pollution?
Really heartening to see commenters in this thread concerned about plastic pollution! I have also tried to stopped buying clothes with plastic (polyester). Probably not our biggest environmental concern at the moment, but still might as well develop good habits of consuming in a way that minimizes my impact on the environment.
I'm kind of surprised that washing machines don't have that sort of filter already. I recently cleaned out two of the filters in my own washing machine and it did a pretty decent job catching a lot of things. I guess because it's so fine it would have to be cleaned out more?
The one that concerns me personally is the whole wastewater recycling directly to drinkable tap water.<p>Between micro-plastics from washing machines to medicine disposal, the long term unknowns to human health seem to be significant, not to mention the potential for human error.
It is obviously more cost effective to filter out microplastics in wastewater treatment than at the individual washing machine level. 98% seems pretty good too.
Aren’t virtually all outdoors wear made of plastics? As far as I know, cheap brands and also pricier ones like Arcteryx all use the same materials. But they work great in terms of shedding water so I am not sure what alternative there is. Maybe the best way is to use all natural clothing for base layers but have the outer layer be plastic?
if discards go into the waste stream and into controlled disposal, then things are not terrible; but when products end up on the ground, in small pieces, on the streets or play yards.. problems.. streams and waterways - big problems
Yeah it's pretty gross. I've tried to move away from synthetic fabrics wherever possible. It's just plastic.<p>I learned recently that a huge amount of the lint you see in the dryer is microplastics. Guess what? A similar amount comes out in the washer and goes out with the waste water wherever that ends up in your area. (These tiny fibers aren't easily caught by bulk water treatment methods, I understand.)