- Hey Sheri. I seriously done it. I've reduced my carbon footprint. I don't eat meat anymore, every day is bike to work day, and with my new metal reusable water bottle, plastic is a thing of the past. - Um, I hate to break it to you, Miles, but you're actually wearing plastic right now. - What are you even talking about? - That fleece jacket that you're wearing, it's actually constructed from microfibers which is made out of plastic. You probably heard for a long time now, that plastic in the ocean is a big problem. Every year over eight million tons of plastic enter the ocean killing marine life and potentially polluting the human food chain. By 2050, the World Economic Forum predicts that the amount of plastic in the oceans will outweigh all the fish. But when you hear plastic pollution, you might picture six-pack rings wrapped around seagulls or beaches littered with plastic bottles, you know, the stuff that you can see. But now researchers are discovering a new menace: microfibers. They're tiny strands of synthetic fibers. Trillions every year shed from things like carpets, towels, and clothing, like this fleece jacket. So, what can we do about microfiber pollution? Microfibers are a type of plastic pollution known as microplastics. Microplastics are teeny, tiny bits of plastic that are smaller than five millimeters, which is about the size of a grain of rice. They typically come from larger pieces of plastic that have been broken down over time, or from the plastic microbeads found in exfoliating face washes. Plastic is made from the fossil fuel petroleum. Petroleum molecules are heated to really high temperatures, creating new, long molecule chains called polymers that don't occur in nature. What that means is that plastic, including microfibers, don't really break down completely, just into tinier and tinier pieces. Most microfiber pollution comes from the synthetic clothing that many of us love to wear. Think fleece jackets and yoga pants. Take a look at those tags and you'll see fabric names like polyester, nylon, and spandex. Those are all manmade as opposed to natural fabrics like cotton or wool. But this comfort and fashion has a cost. Each time synthetic fabrics are washed, those tiny microfibers shed. Washing a typical polyester fleece can release thousands of microfibers that can travel from the washing machine to the local water treatment plant, where they can slip by filters and enter rivers, lakes, and oceans. And from there, fish and other marine life are eating those microfibers, which may leach harmful toxins. One California study found microfibers in one out of every four fish that were examined. Researchers are still trying to determine if these toxins can climb up the food chain to harm humans that eat the fish. Just think about that for a minute. We could be eating lots of plastic, and we don't know if it's harming us or not. Microfiber research is pretty new. It didn't really start until 2011. But since then, researchers have been finding microfibers everywhere. They're even found in tap water in dozens of countries, including the U.S. And a German study found microfibers in all 24 beer brands that they tested. Researchers in Paris even discovered microfibers falling from the air, meaning we could be breathing them in on a daily basis. There isn't one magic solution to this problem, but there are some things that we can try. Regulation could be an option. The government could make some rules about all of this. For years, plastic microbeads have been a major source of plastic pollution, but in 2015, President Obama signed a law banning their use in most household products. A more realistic regulation could be to require water treatment plants to upgrade their filters. Studies have found that most plants already filter out 95 to 99% of microfibers, but that still means that there are millions of fibers getting out into the water every day. Requiring these plants to install new and better filters might help catch more microfibers, but would cost tens of millions of dollars for each plant. That could mean higher water and sewage bills for everyone. Then there are the clothing companies choosing or being forced to address the issue. The outer clothing company Patagonia actually commissioned a study to learn more about the problem of microfibers. The company hopes that this research will allow it to develop better materials that don't shed as easily. The real game changer, though, is for manufacturers to move away from petroleum-based plastic fabrics. And that doesn't mean just switching out your fleece for your cotton sweatshirt. There is research being done to create bio-polyester fibers that are fully biodegradable. You feed bacteria methane gas and then bacteria actually produce as a kind of bioplastic that can be spun into thread for clothing. The fibers do shed, but they break down more naturally. So some day in the future, some fancy bacteria might just be making our clothes for us. Until realistic regulations or new tech help to solve this issue, it's the more simple, everyday stuff that could make a difference. You could buy and install better filters for washing machines to catch more microfibers. And even just washing synthetic clothing less often can help. So, does this information about microfiber pollution change anything for you? Is there anything you're willing to do to help with this problem? Think society should regulate it? Let us know in the comments below. And if you haven't already, please hit that subscribe button. And if you liked this video, make sure you check out this other video and learn how your social status might make you sick. Thanks for watching.