Initiative / Pollution
The Story of Stuff

Stop Microfiber Plastic Pollution!

Burgess COMMENTARY
As long as the dominant metric for success is profit performance for companies, stock prices for capital markets and money wealth for individuals, then issues like microfiber pollution will be ignored ... http://truevaluemetrics.org
Peter Burgess

Stop Microfiber Plastic Pollution!

Most of us wear synthetic fabrics like polyester every day. Our dress shirts, yoga pants, fleeces, and even underwear are all increasingly made of synthetic materials -- plastic, in fact.

But these synthetic fabrics, from which 60% of all clothing on earth is made, have a big hidden problem: when they’re washed, they release tiny plastic bits -- called microfibers -- that flow down our drains, through water treatment plants, and out into our rivers, lakes and oceans by the billions.

While microfibers were discovered as a direct, major source of plastic pollution more than five years ago, clothing brands have been slow to respond to this growing threat.

We call on clothing brands to:
1) publicly acknowledge the seriousness of the pollution threat that microfibers pose;
2) commit to investments of time and resources to investigate and test potential Solutions; and
3) share what they learn with each other and the public.

And you adding your name is critical! Once you and thousands of other Story of Stuff Community members sign on to this petition, we’ll present your signatures to the largest clothing brands in the world, inviting them to attend a summit organized by the Story of Stuff Project. The summit will assess research, propose solutions, and generate timelines for systemic action to solve microfiber pollution. We will also ask these companies for specific commitments so that we can objectively gauge progress and engage in serious and constructive conversations aimed at ending microfiber pollution.

Solutions to this unique pollution challenge are difficult, and will require cooperation between clothing brands, advocates, scientists, designers, and others. But there is also an urgency we can’t and won’t ignore.

We can’t let five more years go by without a clear commitment by the companies who sell these polluting materials. With an estimated 1.4 million trillion (!!) microfibers already corrupting our shared waters and the creatures that inhabit them, we need real, objective progress to stop this pollution.

We intend, with our collective voices, to achieve exactly that.

Add your name today. Together, let’s tell the world’s largest clothing brands: “Eliminate your products’ microfiber impacts on the environment, right from the design of the clothing. Forget filters… it’s time to commit to real Solutions!
---------------------------------------
© 2017 Story of Stuff Project. Creative Commons License.