Plastic: Polyester in Clothing & Other Linens

You may wonder what clothing has to do with plastics. Much of our clothing is made from polyester, which is a synthetic fiber derived from petroleum. The reason that polyester is so popular (it accounts for 54% of the synthetic fossil fuel-based fiber market of which only 14.8% is recycled; see Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report 2022) is that it is very durable, low cost, versatile, lightweight, and resistant to stains, fading due to sunlight, and wrinkles.

Given the above benefits, though, there are several negative environmental impacts associated with the production, use, and disposal of polyester products. One such impact associated with all petroleum products is an increase in carbon dioxide emissions, caused by the extraction of the petroleum (a non-renewable fossil fuel) required to produce plastic and polyester products. When compared to a natural fiber such as cotton, the energy required to produce polyester and the resulting carbon emissions are both almost 240% higher (Rana et al. 2015).

Another significant source of damage to the environment occurs during the washing and use of polyester products. For example, each time you use a washing machine to wash clothing made from polyester, it has been found that a myriad of small pieces of plastic, or microplastics, are released into the water; these will eventually make their way into our water bodies and air. We have discussed the issue of microplastics, and washing clothes represents one of the dominant causes of the fact that high concentrations of microplastics have been found in our oceans as well as our lakes and rivers and even our treated drinking water. Results from a recent study (De Falco et al. 2019) found that approximately 640,000 to 1,500,000 microfibers per kg of fabric are released into our water during washing.

So what's the solution? One popular suggestion has been to look for polyester clothing made from recycled water bottles and other plastic products. The process of converting plastic bottles into polyester cloth is shown in the following video:

The problem here is that recycled clothing does little to solve the plastic pollution problem for a number of reasons. As can be seen in the video, colored bottles and all bottle caps must be filtered and disposed. Plastic cellophane is used to wrap the plastic bottles at at least two points during the production process. It should also be remembered that because plastic can only be recycled a limited number of times, producing clothing made from recycled plastic only postpones when the plastic bottle will end up in a landfill. And similar to all polyester clothing, washing clothing made from recycled plastic still releases a large number of microfibers into the water.

The most effective solution is to focus on purchasing fabric products that are made primarily from natural as opposed to synthetic fibers. This would include materials such as linen, cotton, hemp, silk, cashmere, and wool. Though there are some environmental considerations to take into account with natural fibers as well (e.g. cotton requires large quantities of water), the environmental benefits still outweigh the costs when compared to synthetic fibers. You can also go one step farther and look for clothing made from organic natural fibers.

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Helpful Hints

1. Look for clothing that is made from 100% ORGANIC natural fibers (e.g., cotton, hemp, linen, silk, and wool).

2. Look for other products made from fabric that comes from 100% ORGANIC natural fibers; examples include towels & wash cloths, tablecloths, reusable napkins, rugs, etc.

3. Check out the following companies that sell products made from 100% ORGANIC natural fibers:  Rawganique, Made Trade, The Ultimate Green Store, Pottery Barn, Everlastly, Smallable, I Love Linen, and Hazia from the North.

4. Purchase a laundry ball (e.g., Cora Ball) to help reduce the number of microfibers released into the water during washing.