Researchers from NHL Stenden and a group of three universities are trying to make a degradable type of polyester. They are looking for a sustainable alternative to the plastics that are in many types of clothing. Because of those synthetic fibers, microplastics end up in the air and nature from the clothes.
According to the RIVM, thousands of microplastics end up in the environment with every wash of synthetic clothing. Millions of plastic fibers also end up in nature, air and water due to the production and use of the clothing.
“Polyester is very handy in clothing. Your clothes dry faster and stay beautiful for longer,” says PhD student Corniek Post from NHL Stenden. “It just doesn’t break off and as a result the amount of microplastics in the environment accumulates.”
Pursuant to polymen manufacturer Senbis from Emmen, Post is researching a way to make polyester biodegradable. In the Laboratory on the Zernike campus in Groningen, he will be working on the ‘Holy Grail’ in the fight against plastic pollution for the next four years.
According to Post, making a degradable polyester variant is not easy. “We want to ‘weaken’ the molecules, so that microorganisms can break them down. But that can also ensure that the fiber is no longer strong enough to make it a textile wire.”
Post and his co-researchers have four years for their search for the ideal balance between degradability and strength. It will then be considered whether there is a degradable polyester fiber that can replace the plastic in clothing.
Watch in the video how the researchers work