Plastic rocks on an isolated island
The sombre message of stones made of plastic found on an uninhabited island far from the Brazilian coast.
Plastic Soup clothes not a solution
A number of clothing manufacturers have recently announced they will begin making fabrics from plastic waste fished out of the ocean. Unfortunately this is not a good idea.
Parley for the Oceans unites creative talent and Parley’s Vortex Project has developed technology to make clothing fibers from ocean plastic. BIONIC®, together with G-Star, makes denim jeans in which ocean plastic is blended.
Adidas has recently announced a similar initiative, also in cooperation with Parley, “to develop fibers made from plastic ocean waste that can be used in the manufacturing of clothing and potentially in shoes.”
While it is welcomed that these companies want to help solve one of the world’s worst environmental problems, making clothes and shoes from plastic soup is not a solution. Synthetic clothing, such as fleece, contributes to plastic soup on a large scale. For every wash cycle plastic clothing generates thousands of microscopic fibers. These are flushed down with the wastewater and end up in the ocean from where they can’t be retrieved. Scientists worry especially about the harmful effects of these microplastics because they can end up in the food chain. See for more information the life mermaids project.
It would be a lot more meaningful if companies like Adidas were to support the development of washing machine filters that can stop the plastic fibers from entering the environment. That way they would actually contribute to the reduction of Plastic Soup. It would give a new meaning to the term greenwashing.
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