Washing our clothes has created 5.6 million tonnes of microfibre waste

By Jessica Hamzelou

Microfibres are released when we wash our clothes

Shutterstock / nexus 7

Millions of tonnes of tiny microplastics have been shed from clothing into the environment over the past seven decades or so, according to an analysis of the impact of clothes washing. Between 1950 and 2016, an estimated 5.6 million tonnes of such particles have been emitted into water and land environments – half of which has been released in the last decade.

“By mass, the amount of microfibres that has been emitted to the ocean is equivalent to about 7 billion fleece jackets just being thrown into …