Water pollution comes from tiny fibres in your clothes. Discover research & solutions to change that. Join us to learn more.

The clothing we wear is made from a variety of different materials - many of which are made of plastic polymers such as polyester, spandex, and nylon.

Every single time we put our clothes in the washing machine thousands of tiny plastic pieces wash away in the form of small fibres - this is what we call microfibres.

Although municipal wastewater treatments plants (WWTP) can capture up to 98% of microfibres and microplastics, WWTP release millions of microfibres into our freshwater ecosystems every day.

Join Brooke Harrison, Lisa Erdle, and Dorsa Nouri Parto as we discuss microfibres and the research underway in Parry Sound and the University of Toronto. 

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MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Brooke Harrison is the Project Coordinator at Georgian Bay Forever. She has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Earth Sciences from Trent University, previously working at the Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association before starting at GBF in 2019. She manages the Phragmites Eradication Program and Divert & Capture: The Fight to keep Microplastics out of our Water. 

 Lisa Erdle researches the effects of microplastics on animals that are part of a Great Lakes food web. In her work, Lisa collaborates with the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) as well as Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to better understand how microfibers – one of the most common types of microplastics – impact fish and invertebrates through physical and chemical processes. 

 

  

Dorsa Nouri Parto is an undergraduate student double majoring in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Molecular Genetics. Last summer, she worked as an intern for the Centre for Global Change Science to study the effects of microfibers on chironomids. This year, she will be working on quantifying microfiber emissions in wastewater treatment plants.