Hello! We are back again with our posts to talk about soil pollution that arises from fast fashion. We have already covered water pollution due to microplastics in past posts but today we will focus more on the soil pollution that some might overlook when they think about pollution.
There are plastics all around the world as plastic microfibres (<5 mm) and nanofibres (<100 nm) which “have been estimated to comprise up to 35% of primary microplastics in marine environments, a major proportion of microplastics on coastal shoreline and to persist for decades in soils treated with sludge from waste water treatment plants” (Henry et al., 2019), p. 483. Microplastic will circulate around the environment before settling into the soil or the floor of aquatic environments (Yurtsever, 2019). Yurtsever (2019, p.471) also suggested that “microplastics should be considered “permanent pollutants”” as it takes centuries for it to dissolve and would just remain in the soil. Hence, microplastic in soil poses such a great threat as microplastics can absorb persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and also acts as a surface for the POPs to cling on (Yurtsever, 2019). There are also “adverse effects of these toxic chemicals (being) associated with mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic effects” and examples of such chemicals are “heavy metals such as iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), aluminium (Al), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), silver (Ag), zinc (Zn) and hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) also referred to as POPs” (Verla et al., 2019). All these toxins will continue to stay in the soil or on the floor of any aquatic environment that creates long term pollution in the environment.
With microplastic in our soils, it will affect the growth of plants planted in them and plastic can also be found in soil organisms such as earthworms (Verla et al., 2019). Presence of microplastic in soil organisms can affect their digestive system (Verla et al., 2019) and could eventually starve to death. With fewer soil organisms, it can further affect the growth of the plants as the soil can become less suitable for the plant. More shockingly, microplastic is also found within the crop itself such as a wheat plant (Verla et al., 2019). With microplastic found in crops like the wheat plant is horrific as wheat is such a basic crop that has multiple uses in human food and also as an animal feed.
We can start to see how soils polluted with microplastics could get into the food chain without us knowing. Hence, it is getting more important to be aware of the microplastics that we could possibly contribute to the environment. As we talk about the detrimental effects of microplastic, we have to draw links to microplastics generated from the fast fashion industry and realise its pollution on the environment. Hopefully, with greater awareness being garnered from social media and news platforms, consumers can be more conscious of their clothes consumption and their pollutive clothes shopping habits.
References:
Henry, B., Laitala, K., & Klepp, I. G. (2019). Microfibres from apparel and home textiles: Prospects for including microplastics in environmental sustainability assessment. Science of The Total Environment, 652, 483-494. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.166
Verla, A. W., Enyoh, C. E., Verla, E. N., & Nwarnorh, K. O. (2019). Microplastic–toxic chemical interaction: a review study on quantified levels, mechanism and implication. SN Applied Sciences, 1(11), 1400. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1352-0
Yurtsever, M. (2019). Glitters as a Source of Primary Microplastics: An Approach to Environmental Responsibility and Ethics. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 32(3), 459-478. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09785-0
