Microplastics are pieces of plastic with a diameter of not more than 5 mm. Synthetic fiber clothes have small plastic grains falling off each time they are washed. According to data from Swedish consumer electronics company Electrolux, an average of 10-15 mg of microplastics is emitted every 10 minutes of 1 kg of clothes in the washing machine. This is because physical and chemical irritation is applied to the laundry and the clothes are worn out. In 2017, the World Union for Conservation of Nature estimated that 35% of marine microplastics come from synthetic fibers.
(Picture from Unsplash)
Microplastics that flow into nature enter the human body through the food chain. Although the toxicity of microplastics to the human body has not been revealed, the possibility of some cells in the human body being vulnerable to microplastics has been raised. For now, nerve cells do. Even if microplastics are absorbed into the human body, most of them are released from the body thanks to the cell's defense mechanism, but microplastics in the unit of 1 nanometer (nm), which is 1/billionth of a meter (m), have been observed to enter the cell. It is wise to reduce microplastic emissions, whether for the environment or for health.
Microplastic emissions can be reduced by changing daily habits, including laundry methods. First of all, we need to reduce the absolute frequency of laundry. This is because synthetic fiber clothes form microplastics every time they are washed. Unless your clothes are sweaty or stained with soup, it is recommended to wear them several times. Rather than buying new clothes, you should make good use of the clothes you already have. This is because new clothes are known to emit about eight times more microplastics than clothes washed five times.
To reduce the amount of microplastics emitted during washing, the degree of friction between fabrics should be reduced. It's better to fill the laundry tank with laundry. This makes it less frequent for fabrics to bump into each other than when washing only a small amount of laundry, resulting in less microplastics. Lower the temperature of the laundry if possible. Studies have shown that washing with 40 degrees water produces more microplastics than 30 degrees (°C) water.
It is also a method to use filters and laundry balls that filter microplastics mixed in water, or to purchase washing machines with microplastics reduction devices, but neither has become popular in Korea.
Writer: Linda chen
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