Plastic in Marine Animals

I just read recently the BBC News article about microscopic plastic particles that have been found in marine animals, including the fish we eat, and then they end up inside us. Where does all this plastic come from? From those discarded plastic bags of course, all that trash that gets dumped in the ocean or washed out to see or partly burnt and blown away, and that really obnoxious polystyrene shipping foam that breaks into little balls. Much of that plastic photo degrades into smaller and smaller pieces, and has been written about before.

But this microscopic plastic contamination is different, it comes from the synthetic clothes we buy, wear and wash! The research is published in the Journal Environmental Science and Technology, and shows that 1,900 tiny fibres come off each item of clothing and into the water that gets flushed away.

“Research we had done before… showed that when we looked at all the bits of plastic in the environment, about 80% was made up from smaller bits of plastic,” said co-author Mark Browne, an ecologist now based at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a member of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, USA

Other research shows that plastic particles less than 1mm in size get eaten by animals.

“Once the plastics had been eaten, it transferred from [the animals’] stomachs to their circulation system and actually accumulated in their cells,” according to Browne’s interview with the BBC. At 18 beaches around the world the researchers found evidence of the microscopic plastic particles. They tested city sewage discharge and looked at the outflow from washing machines and clearly showed the microscopic plastic was coming from water discharge from washing machines.

“It suggests to us that a large proportion of the fibres we were finding in the environment, in the strongest evidence yet, was derived from the sewerage as a consequence from washing clothes.”

I remember (unfortunately!) that back in the 1970s and 1980s there was a big push to buy synthetic clothing, including polyester shirts (that really got very sweater, stained and stunk), nylon/polyester bed sheets that gave you a million volt shock every time you pulled back the sheets, and the countless sock, trouser, jacket, glove and scarf that came in a combo of synthetic textiles. Most of them made my flesh creep and it sends a shiver down my spine even thinking about it.

Is it any different today, I don’t think so, probably much worse as there seems to be an ever increasing mix of spandex, latex, viscose and whatever other funky fabric combo they dream up. And have you ever wondered where all those little fibrous and dusty bits go when you shake out your clothes – even if they have been in a drawer or wardrobe or just washed. Then there is the laundry soap, with activated chemical scrubs and a whole bunch of sulphates, phosphates, benzyl, softeners, whiteners, anti-microbials, and more…!

Now I only buy, as best I can, only organic cotton, wool, and natural fabrics, and use the most benign clothes washing detergents. My clothes last longer (I’m not a dedicated follower of fashion!), they look clean, I don’t think I smell (!) and I don’t get zapped by a million volts every time I get into or out of bed or walk across the room in my organic cotton/wool socks.

Trevor Williams is a University of Victoria Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate specializing in renewable energy, power grid modeling and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. He has a bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering, a Masters in Management Science and over 23 years international experience in the space industry, having worked on Earth observation and telecommunications satellites. He is the author of the Eco-Geek blog.