Polyester has radically changed fashion, enabling brands to flood the world with more disposable clothing, multiplying waste and pollution. A new laboratory investigation has found that the industry’s main response to these environmental problems is making microplastic pollution worse.
Over 100 brands claim that recycled polyester from waste plastic bottles can help reduce pollution and other environmental problems. An industry ‘challenge’ to switch to recycled polyester concludes this month. Adidas, H&M, Puma and Patagonia have already switched almost all their polyester use from virgin to recycled for sustainability reasons.
But new laboratory research, published by the non-profit Changing Markets Foundation, found that recycled polyester produces, on average, 55% more microplastic particles during washing than virgin polyester, which is less brittle. The particles were also found to be nearly 20% smaller, so more able to spread in the environment and cause harm.
A single laundry cycle can release up to 900,000 microplastic fibres. Microplastics are now so widespread that they are found in even the most extreme environments and circulate across all environments: soil, air, water, and living organisms. It has been found in numerous human organs and is linked to a growing number of health problems.
First study
The study focused on a relatively small number of garments from five major brands, and the results provide only an indication of likely pollution rates. T-shirts, tops, dresses and shorts sold by Adidas, H&M, Nike, Shein and Zara were tested. The study is the first to compare brands for microplastic pollution, Changing Markets believes. The brands are among the fashion world’s biggest producers and users of synthetic fabrics, according to a recent Changing Markets survey.
Nike polyester clothing was found to be the most polluting, for both virgin and recycled fabric. The brand’s recycled polyester shed over 30,000 fibres per gram of sample clothing on average, nearly four times H&M’s average and over seven times Zara’s average. Nike was recently sanctioned by UK authorities for greenwashing, according to a press report.
Shein clothing also stood out in that its recycled polyester garments shed microplastics at around the same rate as its virgin polyester clothing. Changing Markets suspects some of the tested clothes labelled as recycled polyester may actually have been made of virgin polyester. Polyester “fraud” is reportedly “rife” in fashion supply chains.
Not a solution
Urska Trunk, Senior Campaign Manager, Changing Markets Foundation, said: “Fashion has been selling recycled polyester as a green solution, yet our findings show it is deepening the microplastic pollution problem. It exposes recycled polyester for what it is: a sustainability fig leaf covering fashion’s deepening dependence on synthetic materials. Smarter design tweaks and end-of-pipe fixes will only scratch the surface. Real solutions mean slowing and phasing out synthetic fibre production and stopping the diversion of plastic bottles into disposable clothing.
Even before today’s findings, environmentalists concluded that fashion’s recycled polyester drive is largely greenwash. Polyester clothes recycling systems are seen as “important” but also “in development” and only able to process “around 2% of all recycled polyester”. In contrast, the drinks sector can repeatedly reuse waste plastic bottles, but now has to compete with fashion brands for them. Meanwhile, fashion’s use of virgin polyester is growing so fast that the share of recycled polyester last year actually fell. The low cost of synthetic fabrics, now being produced at record highs, has driven huge overproduction, overconsumption and waste.
