The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
When we think of ocean pollution, we often imagine plastic bottles and straws - but your old clothes might be part of the problem too.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a swirling mass of plastic waste more than twice the size of Texas in the central North Pacific Ocean (roughly between California and Hawaii). It's not only filled with bottles and bags but also with microfibers from synthetic clothing. Every time we wash polyester, nylon, or acrylic fabrics, tiny plastic fibers (called microplastics) shed into our water systems. These microplastics are far too small to be filtered out, so they end up in rivers, oceans, and eventually, inside marine animals.
The fast fashion industry encourages overproduction and overconsumption, which means millions of materials, fabrics and clothes, many of them made with plastic-based textiles, are thrown away each year. Some of these items are dumped in landfills or illegally shipped to developing countries, where they can still make their way into the sea.
Buy Less - Save Longer and Say NO to synthetics.
- Brianna Fant
Information From:
Marine Conservation Society. “Sustainable Fashion Solutions to Combat Ocean Pollution.” Marine Conservation Society, 1 Mar. 2024, https://www.mcsuk.org/news/combatting-ocean-pollution-through-sustainable-fashion-solutions/.
National Geographic Society. "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." National Geographic Education, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/great-pacific-garbage-patch/.
Shepherd’s Dream. “Fast Fashion & Textiles.” Shepherd's Dream, 9 Nov. 2022, https://shepherdsdream.com/blog/stories-and-sales/fast-fashion-textiles.
