Clothing

'Fast fashion' is said to be the second biggest polluter after the oil industry. Although there has recently been a lot of publicity about the problems with cheap, almost disposable clothing, consumer demand is still high. Billions of pieces of clothing are made and some are not even sold before they enter landfill.

When buying new, consider getting good quality clothes, that will last for years. The initial outlay is more but these clothes are often made by smaller companies buying from them benefits the local community and it lessens cheap imports from around the world.

Mend your clothes, there are lots of tips online and many mending jobs aren't too difficult.

Add things such as beads, ribbons, tassels, patches or change the button on clothes to give them another lease of life.

If clothes have really 'had it', the natural fibre ones can be used for cleaning cloths or can be composted.

Cheaper clothes are often synthetic. Synthetic materials will shed microplastics into the water supply and apparently this is the equivalent to each person throwing 15 plastic bags into the ocean!

Vintage and second-hand clothing sheds less and reusing reduces the amount of clothes sent to landfill.

Ways to reduce the amount of microplastics and other fibres entering our water supply (even natural fibres are bad for the oceans):

wash clothes less frequently

use laundry programmes that use less water

keep clothes for longer, new clothes shed more

use balls or bags developed to catch fibres

look out for developments in washing machine technology to trap particles and in developing textiles that shed less fibres