The Guppy Friend
A laundry bag that keeps the microfibers from synthetic clothes from ending up in the ocean
When you eat fish, you may also be eating a tiny piece of someone's fleece sweatshirt or poly-blend socks: in a single wash of a fleece jacket, more than 250,000 microfibers can wash down the drain, and some of them can eventually make it into waterways. A new bag is designed to stop that pollution. The Guppy Friend bag holds synthetic clothes in the laundry machine, catching 99% of the microfibers in a fine mesh. After a wash, you can throw out the fibers in the trash. The surface of the bag also helps reduce shedding, so clothes lose fewer fibers overall. They realized that they had a problem. To better understand the problem, they tried washing a few clothes in the sink with filters. Even without a microscope, the tiny fibers were clearly visible. Until clothes are redesigned, customers can use the bag to help prevent pollution from reaching aquatic animals (and, through the food chain, humans). You can use it right away to make a difference.