6.4 billion* micro-plastics every year
are released into the water and air by the year 7 class
*at least
Sherri Mason, SUNY Fredonia
Micro-plastics are released from polyester in the wash. The washing machine can't catch the micro-plastics in its filters because they are just that tiny.
They manage to sneak past the sewage facilities’ filters too, and out into the ocean and rivers they all go, where they are eaten by fish.
Plymouth Marine Labs 2018
They are in our water system, including water used to irrigate crops, which means they are in our soils. Micro-plastics are also eaten by farm animals.
Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
According to the leading researchers in micro-plastic pollution, between 700 and 4000 micro-plastic fibres are released per gram in a single wash.
Rachel Ricotta
Micro-plastic fibres found in body of a fish
Let's say the PE kit gets washed twice a week and the blazer once a month. Every year, this is how many micro-plastics go into the water:
13-77 million fibres/student
1.4-9 billion fibres/year group
+
When we are running around in our uniform we release micro-plastic fibres into the air:
For my uniform that's:
40-230 million fibres/student
5-28 billion fibres/year group
Let's add up the smallest estimates released into the water and air from these three items of the uniform for the 125 students in year 7:
1.4 + 5 = 6.4 billion fibres
This is about the same number of micro-plastics that 130,000 people ingest every year, or half of Camden's population.
Is recycled polyester the answer?
Some uniform providers market their clothes as "eco", because they are made from recycled plastic bottles. They say that your blazer is saving plastic from ending up in the ocean. This isn't true: they end up in the ocean as micro-plastic fibres when you wash your blazer.
How bad is the micro-plastic pollution from our clothes?
Bad. Fibers from synthetic clothes like polyester are the biggest source of micro-plastic pollution in our waters, up to 35%.
We eat, drink and breath our school uniforms
It's as unhealthy as it looks. The solution to this problem is simple: