California Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D- Santa Monica) has introduced legislation designed to reduce plastic microfiber pollution. Assembly Bill (AB) 2379 requires that all clothing made primarily of polyester include a label that warns of plastic microfiber shedding and recommends handwashing the item to reduce the impact.
Plastic microfibers shed from synthetic fabrics during regular washing, and because these tiny plastic fibers are small enough to get past filters, they’re ending up in waterways and the ocean.
“This issue cannot wait,” Bloom, author of the 2015 California plastic microbead ban, says. “Plastic microfibers are making their way from washing machines into our seafood and even into the water we drink.”
According to research from University of California, Davis (UC Davis), which sampled fish and shellfish sold at local California fish markets, a quarter of fish and a third of shellfish contained plastic debris, with the majority of the plastic debris being microfibers. In a survey that compared 150 tap water samples from locations in five continents, microscopic plastic fibers were found in nearly every sample, with 94 percent of the U.S. water samples containing plastic microfibers. This raises an important question about the human health consequences that plastic microfibers can have on people who unknowingly consume them.
“Manufacturers can’t continue to stick the public with the economic and health costs of cleaning up the products they produce, and consumers shouldn’t have to worry about eating or drinking plastic,” Melissa Romero, policy associate at Californians Against Waste in Sacramento, says. “Handwashing is the best first step to reduce the amount of microfibers that make their way into our water until manufacturers find a way to prevent this problem.”
Assemblymembers Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) and Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley) are coauthoring the bill.
“This bill will educate the public so that they can do their part in stemming this alarming environmental and public health discovery,” Bloom says.
represents California’s 50th Assembly District, which comprises the communities of Agoura Hills, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Hollywood, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Topanga, West Hollywood and West Los Angeles.