Guide · 4 min read
How to reduce microplastics from your laundry
A single wash of synthetics can shed hundreds of thousands of plastic fibres. Wash smarter, dry gentler, and buy natural where it counts.
Laundry is one of the largest sources of microplastics in the environment, and one of the most fixable. Polyester, nylon and acrylic clothes are plastic, and every wash mechanically strips fibres from them: a landmark study measured up to roughly 700,000 fibres released by one 6kg load of acrylics. You do not need to replace your wardrobe. How you wash matters almost as much as what you wash.
Wash in ways that shed less
Cold water, full loads, shorter cycles and liquid-free detergents all reduce fibre loss, because shedding is friction plus heat. Powder in a steel tin and strips in paper also remove the plastic jug from the equation entirely.
Rethink the dryer
Tumble drying is more friction and more heat, and dryer sheets are themselves single-use polyester. Wool dryer balls soften without plastic, and the shedding-heavy synthetics, fleece especially, do best skipping the dryer for a rack.
Buy natural where fabric touches you most
Where you replace textiles anyway, cotton, linen and wool shed cellulose and protein instead of plastic. Bedding and towels are the highest-contact, most-washed textiles in the house, which makes them the natural place to start.
Organic Cotton Sheet Set (Queen)
MagicLinen Stonewashed Linen Sheet Set
Organic Cotton Bath Towel
Temescal Organic Towels (6-Piece Set)
Common questions
- Do washing machine filters help?
- External and in-drum fibre filters capture a meaningful share of what sheds, and France has already required filters on new machines. They reduce what reaches waterways rather than what your clothes shed, so they pair with, rather than replace, the washing habits above.
- Which fabrics shed the most?
- Acrylic sheds most in testing, with polyester close behind, and brushed constructions like fleece are worse than tight weaves. Blends shed too: a poly-cotton tee is still part plastic.
- Is microfibre cleaning cloth laundry a problem?
- Yes, the same physics applies: microfibre cloths are polyester and shed in every wash. Cellulose dishcloths and cotton rags clean as well for most jobs and rinse out plastic-free.
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