Systems Thinking

Microfibre Solutions

Challenge

Synthetic textiles are a major cause of pervasive microfibres in our marine ecosystems with 190,000 tons of synthetic microfibres released into oceans every year and it is estimated 22 million tons will be released into the oceans between 2015- 2050 if no action is taken (Textile Exchange 2020). Microfibres shed from textiles due to chemical and mechanical stress and abrasion during laundering and use. Know the cause and impacts of synthetic microfibre pollution and identify solutions and a potential gap for new products, strategy or process with the ability to contribute positive change.  

Approach

Research the cause of the issue and impacts on marine eco systems and human health, critically analyse solutions, products and systems at industry and consumer level investigating brands/organisations/governments/communities that are part of the solution. Identifying gaps in the market and opportunities for innovative solutions and developing a concept on how it would be implemented and the impact I anticipate it will have.

Outcome

A report outlining solutions to microfibre pollution with a plan to adpat and implement solutions at industry and consumer level.

Top three solutions:

1.The greatest areas to significantly reduce microfibre shedding on a large scale at consumer and industry level is the use of liquid laundry detergent as seen in graph 1. below, column labelled DL (liquid detergent) compared to the column Labelled DP (powdered detergent).

2. Opportunities for improvement at production level, ultrasonic cutting process instead of mechanical cutting.

3. The largest amount of microfibre shedding during washing occurs in the first wash cycle after production, there is an opportunity for manufacturers to perform a garment post production wash to capture these fibres with the use of washing machine filters prior to distribution

1.