Uh-oh, looks like your recycled fleece (or fleece in general) isn’t as good for the earth as we thought it was.
According to care2.com, washing your polar fleece causing micro pieces of plastic fibre to come off and end up on the river and eventually the ocean.
Scientists found that similar levels of plastic particles were found on shorelines and in the discharge from sewage treatment plants - meaning that most of the micro plastic bits are coming from our washing machines. Fleece shreds the most: Plastic-based garments (fleece from the eco-friendly company Patagonia is made from “recycled soda-pop bottles”) lose more than 1,900 fibers per wash, all of which goes into the ocean water, and thence into the cells of sea life.
More info: care2.com
Photo Credit: Watch out for Mountain Pirates. / Caillum Smith / CC BY-NC 2.0
