Wash bag against microplastic

This wash bag is able to retain the fine broken microfibers of textiles made of plastic or with plastic content. Although the fabric itself is made of plastic - of untreated polyamide 6.6 - it is very strong, resistant to alkalis and, in its pure form, also easily recyclable. The monofilaments made from it resemble rods rather than threads and therefore do not lose any fibers themselves, so they do not produce microplastics. On the contrary, the microfilaments are extremely fine and can be woven so tightly that the microscopic synthetic fibers do not pass through the fabric. 99% of the broken microparticles are caught by the bag - water and dirt particles, on the other hand, can pass through. Even if the microplastic fibers are smaller than the openings in the fabric - the diameter of a microplastic thread is about 15 µm (1 mm = 1,000 µm) - they will not pass through the small openings in the wash bag fabric. Theoretically, this would be possible, but practically it does not happen, because for this to happen, the microplastic thread would have to pierce straight and vertically through the fabric. Even if the thread protrudes from the fabric, it will be pushed back again. The edging tape is made of long staple fibers, should some come out of the compound, it is unlikely to break off.

Of course, this is not a carte blanche for synthetic clothing; in fact, strictly speaking, one would have to do without synthetic clothing altogether. But it is a start to reduce microplastic. And incidentally, another advantage has been identified: The wash bag extends the life of textiles and significantly reduces pilling during washing. This is because the forces responsible for fiber breakage are reduced by the structure of the fabric's filaments and surface. The fibers, whether synthetic or wool, do not break off in such large quantities in the first place. Of course, the wash bag itself is also durable: after 50 washes, it showed no damage whatsoever to the edging.
Use is simple: fill the bag halfway with laundry and wash as usual, then remove the microplastic by hand - please without rinsing the bag! - and dispose of it in the trash can. It may take some time for the fine fiber residues to become visible (they are deposited primarily in the corners and edges). The bag must therefore not be cleaned after each wash.

Functional underwear for sports, fleece sweaters and rain jackets are practical, comfortable and lightweight. However, they don't cut a good figure in the washing machine, where plastic clothing loses thousands of fibers with each wash cycle, which then end up as microplastics in the groundwater and oceans and thus in the food chain, since neither washing machines nor sewage treatment plants can filter them out. The consequences of this are not yet foreseeable, but what is already known does not bode well. Fiber breakage also affects blended fabrics made of cotton or other natural materials with a proportion of plastic such as nylon, polyamide, polyester or acrylic. According to one study, between 170 and 441 kilograms of microfibers can end up in wastewater every day in a city of 100,000 inhabitants - the equivalent of 15,000 plastic bags. Two passionate surfers - and thus owners of outdoor and functional clothing - were looking for a solution without having to give up their existing clothing. Because simply throwing them away wasn't an option either. With researchers and financial support from crowdfunding, they developed this wash bag made of monofilaments that can collect the fine broken microfibers produced when washing plastic textiles. This means they do not end up in the groundwater, but can be disposed of in the trash.