In waters is consistently about a third from tires and a third from synthetic textiles (bcs washing).
Eg
this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
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I'd like to see the numbers, but I imagine that the synthetic textiles chunk comes from the sheer volume of fast-fashion and trashion produced every year. I have synthetic shirts that are well over a decade old and still look and function as brand new. My cotton shirts under similar wear get ratty and frayed in that time frame (and require harsh chemicals for stains).
If we stopped over-washing and over production, I wouldn't be surprised if the lifetime ecological footprint of synthetic garments is less than a cotton equivalent.
i would imagine most comes from shedding of the fabrics in regular use and washing+drying, basically the rate is mostly constant fast fashion or not. I would think the only viable solution would be limiting/stopping or finding alternatives to synthetic fibers. Also perhaps some kind of microplastic filter in washing machine outlets mandated by regulation could be a way to limit the emissions of new microplastics.
So... Cotton/Linen/Wool? The technology is fine, its only downside in most applications is simply cost. Cotton clothes are more comfortable, less stinky, less polluting, and won't fuse with your skin and disfigure you for life if they accidentally catch on fire. On top of not making microplastics soup every wash cycle.
If we cared to actually solve the problem of plastics in fast fashion we could ban them, with some exceptions for sportswear and shoes where synthetics have some actually useful uses. Hell, we could even make it an easy transition by gradually pulling back the allowable synthetic content for x years.
But it would directly kneecap Shein and H&M's business model so we have to weigh all the pros against that.
I'm sure would find equivalent non-polluting alternative materials within a couple of years if we banned all plastics ("synthetic textiles").
But only if we actually put the ban in place.
Otherwise the answer is never.
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Yes, this is how I understand it too, it's not like half of your shirt ends up in the ocean (and the amount of plastics that ends up in the landfills isn't really included in the microplastics that circle around - that's a problem for the future - so the vomit-inducing fast fashion/consumerism is a bigger problem from every other standpoint).
And yes again on the only viable solution - it's stupid to try to slightly improve something you are gonna be producing more of every year. The "improvements" are just propaganda we are (successfully) fed for decades & it just muddies the discussions whilst keeping the current/same profiteers in power (without even changing the business model).
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Of course the 2% contributor has been addressed, personal care products now aren't allowed to have plastic "abrasives", which is a good change anyway as plastic is useless for improving scrubbing
No other sources have had any work done to mitigate the problem
Lol, yeah, my toothpaste really doesn't need plastic glitter. Then again, neither does my car's paint, but here we are.
What is the data source for this chart?
Wow tires might as well be almost half
Not sure what city dust is composed of but imagining some of it is tires
City dust is everything that's not covered by the other categories, e.g. car-related pollutants like paint or wear of brake pads, but mainly I guess packaging materials and plastic film as they seem not to be included in the other categories.
What the hell is "city dust"?
You don't have a good idea to replace synthetics in textiles, do you? I can't stand cotton shirts, but I would really like to skip synthetics.
If you live somewhere cold – wool.
If you live somewhere hot – linen.
I think I have to give linen a second chance. Or maybe modal/lycocell/etc. Germany isn't sub Saharan warm, but I'm built like an oven 😐
Edit: oh, this is why I gave up on them. I'm not paying 85€ for a single shirt
Keep an eye out at thrift shops, maybe? I assume those exist near you. Probably much less availability that way, so you might have to look for a while, and fewer pattern options as a result, but cheaper and for a test maybe better because already pre-softened through wash and wear?
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Right now I'm wearing a wool shirt under a linen shirt. I'd count the local weather as "warm"
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If we banned plastics (gutting their lobbies affecting everything from taxes, laws/regulation, logistics, etc) we would have natural replacements in like 5 years & nobody would even think of the times before (except for environmental cleanup purposes).
They said you can't have water-tight bags from non-fossil fuel sauces, now they are everywhere. The paper industry just like developed see-through water-tight "paper" (the lil windows in envelopes & some packaging) bcs they didn't want to deal with the petrol industry.
The non-plastic drinking straws? Yeah, explain to me why they intentionally sux even tho we always had the materials for a seamless transition?
(Also, just in case an fyi - cotton, like wool, can be processed and woven if very much different ways which makes for basically divergent materials, it's a whole science. The mainstream stuff is mostly the same tho.)
The fact that some paper straws perform as well as plastic suggests that the bad ones are just cheaper and are used by companies that don't care. When I used to drink the sort of drinks that use straws I carried a steel straw to use in places that didn't supply good straws
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People wore animal and plant based clothing for hundreds of thousands of years
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Have you tried Rayon? It's a semi synthetic fabric made from cellulose and iirc biodegradades decently.
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“City dust” oh yea. The cities that walk everywhere? What’s the dust from?
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Tyres specifically break down on hard surfaces that typically drain directly to a nearby waterway. Used tyres were/are popular for boat fenders and seawalls and the like. That and literally just dumping them. I’m not surprised.
when growing up people dumped tires purposedly so go back later and tire fish for catfish
City storm drainage is already treated for a population over 100k (in the us). But never for these microplastics. Seems like that would be a good place to start.
I wonder as well how much comes to play from tires dumped in the ocean like the Osborne reefs as they’re degradation over time.
🚅🚃🚃🚃
Yet this ass-backwards emoji exists: 🚳.
I mean, it's just a road sign not some kind of anti-bike statement. There's no equivalent anti-car emoji because places where cars aren't allowed usually are impossible to access in one so no signage is needed.
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🌈 Yet another problem EVs don't address 🌈
Tires are made of rubber, not plastic. U can't fool me, science.
From the wikipedia page: "Styrene-butadiene or styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) describe families of synthetic rubbers derived from styrene and butadiene..... About 50% of car tires are made from various types of SBR." Styrene should sound familiar is the base of polystyrene used to make styrofoam
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