Washing your clothing on a low temperature with mild detergent can help preserve fabrics and lead to fewer microfibers shed. External washing machine filters can be purchased… they filter all the water exiting your washing machine and capture up to 90 percent of those particles.
There are also [washer and dryer] balls you can throw in with your laundry and those collect fibers, or bags with fine mesh you wash your laundry in.
One study found just 60 companies are responsible for about half of the world’s plastic pollution. What are some of the big changes that could reduce plastic pollution and exposure?
Baechler:
The best science points to a need for three big system-level changes, the first being sharp decreases in production of plastics––particularly single-use plastics. The Ocean Conservancy every year leads the international coastal clean-up… and far and away, the items we see most frequently on coasts and beaches around the world every year are single-use plastics, things like food ware, plastic bags, and cutlery.
The second is that we need to manage the plastics we do produce and have in circulation much better. A lot of infrastructure to recycle plastics is out of date, it’s overburdened, and so it cannot be extremely effective.
Also, you can use your voice to let decisionmakers know how you feel about plastics! Let brands know, if you’re shopping at the grocery store and you notice, ‘wow, this carrot is triple packaged in plastic!’… We’ve seen a lot of success in the plastic space with people advocating for change.