Tag: sustainabilty

OM in the News: The Tiny Plastics in Clothes Are Becoming a Big Problem

Makers of sportswear and fleece jackets are trying to address concerns about tiny plastic particles from synthetic clothing finding their way into seafood and drinking water. While the plastics backlash has focused on single-use products like straws, bottles and coffee cups, synthetic clothing is gaining attention because such garments shed plastic every time they are washed.

Each year, more than a half-million metric tons of microfibers—the equivalent of 50 billion plastic water bottles—enter the ocean from the washing of synthetic textiles, reports The Wall Street Journal (March 8, 2019). While all clothing sheds fibers when washed, synthetic particles—unlike wool and cotton—don’t biodegrade. Most conventional washing-machine filters aren’t designed to trap such tiny particles, and while wastewater-treatment plants capture a big slice, they don’t trap everything. The problem is worse in countries that use lots of synthetic clothing and have fewer wastewater-treatment plants.

The number of microfibers entering the ocean is forecast to accelerate as demand for clothes rises. More than 22 million metric tons of microfibers are estimated to enter the ocean between 2015 and 2050. Microplastics have turned up in seafood, drinking water, beer, honey and sugar, but the impact on human health is unclear. Research shows that ingesting microplastics can hurt the ability of planktonic organisms to feed and the ability of fish and marine worms to gain energy from food.

Pending bills in New York and California would require labels on clothes made from more than 50% synthetic material to tell consumers that these shed plastic microfibers when washed. Patagonia found fabrics shed lots of microfibers on the first wash, but few in subsequent washes. That suggests pretreating garments before they are sold could potentially capture and recycle what otherwise goes down consumers’ drains. H&M said it is exploring whether clothes can be designed to minimize shedding. The brand is monitoring the development of alternative biodegradable fibers.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Is this a primarily a sustainability issue or a product design issue?
  2. Are your students aware of the problem?

OM in the News: The Silicon Valley of Recycling

The facility sorts out a 30 foot hill of debris daily
The facility sorts out a 30 foot hill of debris daily

You won’t find San Francisco’s Pier 96 in any travel guidebook but it has become a must-see destination for visitors from Afghanistan to Vietnam. They’ve come to explore Recology — one of the world’s most advanced recycling plants, a deafening system of conveyor belts and sorters that, with the help of human hands, untangles a 30-foot hill of debris collected by trucks every day from across the city.

Foreign officials and others come here to pick up tips on how to handle their own mushrooming piles of garbage back home. As the world’s population grows, people are consuming more, creating more trash, and countries are looking for ways to deal with it that put less stress on the environment. Many are part of a growing movement sometimes called Zero Waste or the Circular Economy, writes The New York Times (March 29, 2016). It entails trying to eliminate tough-to-recycle items like flimsy plastic bags and also pioneering new ways to recycle or compost everything else. Despite strained recycling economics–caused by falling oil prices that has driven down the cost of new commodities, like plastic, and, in turn, the price of recycled materials sorted and sold by Recology–interest remains strong.

Today, San Francisco diverts 80% of waste away from landfills, putting it among the elite recycling cities. San Francisco also has a world-class reputation for its composting processes, which turns food waste into fine, coffee-like grounds that is sent to farms as fertilizer.

Although Supplement 5 focuses on corporate social responsibility, this article illustrates that sustainability is a government issue as well.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. What is the most difficult part of the process for Recology?
  2. Explain the concept of the triple bottom line.