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from the be-environmentally-conscious-go-naked dept.
Wearing clothes could release more microfibres to the environment than washing them:
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists from the Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials of the National Research Council of Italy (IPCB-CNR) and the University of Plymouth compared four different items of polyester clothing and how many fibres were released when they were being worn and washed.
The results showed that up to 4,000 fibres per gram of fabric could be released during a conventional wash, while up to 400 fibres per gram of fabric could be shed by items of clothing during just 20 minutes of normal activity.
Scaled up, the results indicate that one person could release almost 300million polyester microfibres per year to the environment by washing their clothes, and more than 900million to the air by simply wearing the garments.
In addition, there were significant differences depending on how the garments were made, which the researchers concluding that clothing design and manufacturer has a major role to play in preventing microfibres from being emitted to the environment.
The research, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, was conducted by scientists at the National Research Council of Italy and the University of Plymouth. It builds on their previous studies which showed substantial quantities of fibres are released during the laundry process.
More information: Francesca De Falco et al, Microfiber Release to Water, Via Laundering, and to Air, via Everyday Use: A Comparison between Polyester Clothing with Differing Textile Parameters, Environmental Science & Technology (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b06892
Journal information: Environmental Science and Technology
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 13 2020, @08:20AM (19 children)
to wear clothing made of natural fibers. Cotton, wool, hemp, flax, anything natural. You can lose fibers all day long, and it won't hurt the environment.
As a bonus, pretty much all natural fibers are naturally flame retardant. I'm not aware of any that will melt into your skin like most synthetics do.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by MostCynical on Friday March 13 2020, @08:44AM (9 children)
or just wear nothing at all.
may put a dampener on your employment and dating prospects (or not), but good for the environment!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @08:50AM (6 children)
... says St Greta Bigot Thunberg, the grumpy
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 13 2020, @09:00AM (5 children)
Not even funny. Who wants to see a grumpy woman (or girl) naked?
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Friday March 13 2020, @12:22PM (1 child)
In defense of AC, she likes to expose herself.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 13 2020, @02:09PM
Huh? AC exposed herself? I must have blinked . . . ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @02:06PM (1 child)
It’s like... you’ve never even been on the internet before.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 13 2020, @02:42PM
But, real women get nekkid in real life. ;^)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @04:39PM
I prefer it that way myself.
If she's smiling, you're doing it wrong [motherless.com]
[Seriously NSFW -- No. Really don't look at this if HR might get involved. No joke]
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday March 13 2020, @03:39PM
Nudity, like spandex, shows everything you've got. Whether it's good or bad.
In service to society, I'll at least wear a bathrobe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @04:13PM
Wearing a plaid polyester leisure suit will also put a dampener on your employment and dating prospects.
(Score: 3, Touché) by shortscreen on Friday March 13 2020, @09:51AM
As you mentioned it melts (hot sparks from the welder go right through), it also is constantly covered with cat hair. And it's not absorbant. If my hands get sweaty while I'm playing video games I need a cotton shirt to wipe them on because polyester won't help at all ;)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Friday March 13 2020, @06:26PM (6 children)
Natural fibers don't breathe. Synthetic fibers don't hurt anybody.
Natural fibers require fields and a lot of processing, which means cutting down trees, clearing land, using lots of fertilizers and pesticides, and the labor of women and children in poor countries where there are no- to little labor standards. There are considerable social and environmental costs to their use, so let's stop perpetuating the myth that they're cleaner or better.
Some of that can also be true for synthetic fibers, but it's not necessarily the slam dunk it is often made out to be.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 13 2020, @09:44PM (1 child)
In response, I'd point to Shortscreen's reply. Natural fibers are absorbent, synthetics not so much. I'm not sure how you define "breathe" but if moisture isn't absorbed and wicked away, I don't think clothing can be said to "breathe".
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday March 14 2020, @12:01PM
Synthetics do wick moisture away where it evaporates. Cotton, by contrast, saturates and holds it close to the skin such that the cloth binds and chafes. Chafing is bad.
Natural fibers are best in outer garments when you want warmth.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:26AM (2 children)
I find that natural fibres seem to breathe fine. In the hotter weather, I prefer linen.
While you're right about land use, and depending on the fibre, the chemicals, synthetics mostly require oil with all its drawbacks. As for labour, I often shop at thrift stores and it is not uncommon to buy clothes made in Canada as it wasn't that long ago we had a thriving textile industry, then free trade happened.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday March 14 2020, @11:45AM (1 child)
Linen is not bad, but it wrinkles if you look at it wrong.
Better to wear oil, than burn oil, I say.
Maybe a silver lining to this pandemic is we can all wake up to the fact that relying on China is bad, and recover our textile- and other industries.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:12PM
Had a friend catch fire wearing a polyester shirt, he was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. That's when I decided not to wear oil as it does have a tendency to burn.
As for the free trade, this started with out sourcing to America, then Mexico. Now for textiles, it is as much Bangladesh, Vietnam as China. One reason is yesterday I looked this up, https://www.stanfields.com/men/underwear/winter-shirts/heavy-weight-wool-henley.html [stanfields.com], C$90 for basically underwear that you wear over your shirt and there's a lot of people who can only afford the cheapest stuff.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:10AM
Synthetic fibres aren't free to make, yo.
Yeah we can spin nylons from petroleum (with some interim steps!) but I'm not sure why you think that synthetic polyester is less environmentally- and energy-costly than organic fibre.
Plants and photosynthesis, it turns out, aren't just good for species diversity and biomass and CO2 sequestering, but also for energy capture and conversion into material. Industrial processes fed by solar farms take more energy per R for insulative fibres.
Maaaaaybe the answer is to deploy nuclear power and find less persistent synthetic polyesters. I welcome data in support (or against) that idea.
Citations because I'm not full of hot air, unlike some blowhards:
"Polyester, a petroleum-based synthetic fabric, was the clear loser by a 3-1 margin, because it takes so much energy to extract the oil required to make it."
https://slate.com/technology/2011/04/hemp-versus-cotton-which-is-better-for-the-environment.html [slate.com]
"The raw materials PTA, DMT, and MEG are mainly produced by large chemical companies which are sometimes integrated down to the crude oil refinery where p-Xylene is the base material to produce PTA and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is the base material to produce MEG"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyester#Basics [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:02AM
Yea, I decided to never wear synthetics after a friend caught fire (stupidly pouring gas into a carb in a van's doghouse) and had his shirt melt into his chest. IIRC, he was in the hospital for a couple of weeks.