Our clothes are made mainly of plastic . Unlike cotton, which comes from a plant, polyester and the well-known spandex or lycra — which make clothes more stretchy — do not grow in nature. These are artificial fabrics made from plastic that are used in the production of synthetic textiles.
When we wash them, tiny plastic fibres come off our clothes and pass into the pipes. Once they arrive at the wastewater treatment plant, they thwart the elimination process due to their microscopic size (hence their name, microplastics) and end up in our aquatic ecosystems. We recently conducted an assessment of the microplastics present in the surface water of the St.
Lawrence River and its estuary. We found that the most abundant microplastics were polyester textile fibres. Elsewhere in the world, we have found similar results.
In the Caspian Sea, for example, textile fibres were also the most common type of microplastic found in the digestive systems of fish . We want to paint a portrait of this intriguing situation. This article is part of our series, The St.
Lawrence River: In depth .Don’t miss new articles on this mythical river of remarkable beauty. Our experts look at its fauna, flora and history, and the issues it faces.
This series is brought to you by La Conversation . Microplastics ranging in size from the thickness of a human hair to a toothpick have been detected everywhere on the planet, including in water , sediment , soil , air , animals , and even in clouds and human .
