Make green clothing choices to protect Lake Winnipeg from microplastics
From shopping to doing laundry, we can make choices that help protect the environment, says Joanne Seiff
Want to keep our aquatic ecosystems healthy? Let's stop putting microplastics into Lake Winnipeg.
Recent studies indicate that microplastics don't just end up harming ocean ecosystems — they also end up in fresh water. And there are a lot of microplastics in Lake Winnipeg.
A recently published study suggests most of the microplastics sampled in Lake Winnipeg came from microfibres, like those found in polar fleece clothing.
- That fleece you're wearing is starting to pill — and may be polluting Lake Winnipeg
- B.C. researchers race to find the source of microplastics choking the world's oceans
- Plastic microbeads polluting St. Lawrence River, McGill researchers find
What can we do about this?
Stop the greenwashing
We buy polar fleeces, and synthetic clothing in general, because advertising convinced us that it is superior for active living. Those ads show people jogging along beaches or in the mountains. They always feature a healthy, fit person wearing an outfit that likely used a lot of petroleum-derived plastics to make.
These synthetic clothes also take a lot of energy to make. In some cases, these industrial processes also pollute the environment. Not every sports bra or polar fleece is made equally. Some are likely to do more harm to your world than the good they might offer while you are jogging.
Now, companies like Patagonia are contributing to the research and trying to figure out just how much their polar fleeces shed. (Hint: A lot.) There are questions about how they can adjust their garments' construction or change fabrics and thread to alter the equation.
However, these are all symptoms of a bigger problem that we can solve in other ways.
Here are some points that start with small changes, but end with a big impact.
Wash synthetics less often
One way to theoretically protect our watershed is to wash clothing, and in particular synthetics, less often. That would mean the microplastics may shed less, and less of the material — and detergent — will end up in Lake Winnipeg.
This is true for all our clothes. North Americans love to wash clothes, and often use the washer and dryer when simply airing something out or spot cleaning might do.
As synthetics like polar fleece age and wear out, they shed more, and more microplastics end up in our environment. That happens more efficiently when they are washed and those tiny fibers end up in the water supply.
Yet even if we don't wash them often, our clothes still shed. It's a natural process that happens as we rub our elbows against our sides when we walk, or wipe ketchup off our sleeve. This is entropy — so what can we do about that?
Read labels before you buy
This part is easier than you think. Overall, you can choose to educate yourself about how your clothes are made and with what fibres.
Decide what you want to put into the watershed or your local ecosystem before you leave that big box store. Don't buy things that you can't live with — just as you wouldn't want to financially support child labor, you also wouldn't want to wear something that will last forever in the guts of a fish.
People differ here on what this choice means to them. We're lucky — we have nearly infinite choices when it comes to shopping for clothes.
You can choose something from a company that actively tries to slow down or stop pollution. You can choose something made ethically, in terms of labor choices or energy usage.
- Green is the new black: Fashion Takes Action runway show highlights sustainable fashion
- OPINION: Slow fashion trend brings back old-fashioned thriftiness
The biggest step would be to read labels and then choose not to buy anything at all. When we stop buying things on a large scale, our economic choices send a message to manufacturers.
Many of us have full closets and can choose to buy less, or mend what we have.
Choose renewable, biodegradable fibres
If you want to stop contributing to polluting the environment in terms of your clothing choices, stop buying those fleeces, synthetics, or things that produce microplastics.
Synthetics, or polyethylene plastics, are mostly made from petroleum. They don't biodegrade. Long after you stop wearing that favourite fleece, its byproducts still remain in our water and food, and in the environment.
What does it mean to buy natural fibres? First, focus on things that grow and are harvested, like cotton, hemp, linen, wool, cashmere, silk — there's a long list.
A renewable fibre means that it grows back. For instance, once or twice a year, sheep get a haircut. When sheep get shorn, that wool could become your next zip-up cardigan. Next year, the shearer will also come to shear sheep — and the cycle repeats.
If the land and animals who produce fibres are part of sustainable, and perhaps even organic, farming practice, it is a healthy cycle for us and the environment.
Natural fibres biodegrade. That means they break down after normal amounts of wear and time in a compost pile. Most natural fibres will not be around indefinitely, but with care, they'll last a good long time in your wardrobe.
- Morinville company promises to clean up oceans, one T-shirt at a time
- OPINION: Embrace sweater season with local wool
Nothing is perfect. Conventionally-grown cotton also pollutes through the intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides. Fibre-producing animals make manure, and that too can enter waterways.
As always, we could choose to do more and purchase less new clothing, choosing more carefully. However, choosing natural fibres makes a big difference to our environment and health. These fibres served our physically active ancestors well for thousands of years.
They wear well, breathe better than synthetics and allow us to do the hard work — keeping the land and water around for the next generation.
This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ.
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