Synthetic microfibers, made from plastic, have become the go-to material for most of our textiles. If you look at the tags on your clothing, you can see this clearly. Sources in our homes such as our furniture, towels, rags, bedding, carpet, and dryer vents may also be shedding and contributing to this issue. With the plastic microfiber pollution issue being so vast, how can we even start to reduce its impact?

Here are a few things you may want to consider:

• Be thoughtful on what you buy as a consumer. Check tags and source products or clothing with less or no synthetic fibers. 
• You can do your laundry less or only when your clothes are truly dirty. We tend to wear something once and then wash it even if it’s not visibly dirty.
• Consumers tell manufactures what to make by what they purchase. If organic cotton is in higher demand, more of that material will be used. 
• Clean your laundry room and dryer vent regularly and dispose of the lint in the trash.The landfill is the best place for these plastic fibers as of today. 
• Use a high efficiency washing machine, they are shown to shed less fibers.
• Wash with cold water. Warm water has been shown to cause more shedding.
• Install a Filtrol 160 or other microfiber catching devise to reduce your impact right at the source.

The microfiber pollution issue is so vast, it is hard to know where to start. But we can all make small steps towards reducing their impact by choices we make daily.