We are literally eating our own clothes, in other words, the pollution by microparticles on the oceans has entered in the food chain. I know, it sounds crazy, but it’s true.

When washing our clothes using a washing machine some very small particles get detached and go directly to the sea. As it seems, the zooplancton ingest microplastics because they mistaken them for normal food. This way, species that eat plancton, or species that feed from species that consume plancton, become polluted. Until they reach our tables. Thus we may find ourselves eating sardines in polyester.

The result is that we all loose. We pollute the oceans, damage a wide range of species and poison ourselves.

It is a problem of great magnitude that forced me to find solutions that reduce pollution by microparticles, as much as possible. I have found some great articles, among them this one (in spanish), that give us tips of how we can wash our clothes avoiding the detachment of microparticles.

If you want to minimize pollution the article advice filling the washing machine completely, the use of fabric softener, avoiding long cycles and drying with low revolution ranges avoiding frictions. It also recommends the use of liquid soap instead of soap powder because the process releases less particles. And also suggest to prioritize natural fibres over synthetic fibres, I suppose that’s because of the degradability in natural fibres.

And that’s not the end of the story, you can remove peels of your consumption, they contain microplastics. Buying less plastics, reusing them or if we cannot do anything else, recycling them. If we value being healthy, we will save problems by eating low fat fish or eating it less times a week.

Changes allways have a cost, but I rather prefer this, than having a lunch of sardines in polyester, don’t you think?