Hello Tiziano. To begin our conversation, could you briefly explain what microplastics are and why they are dangerous from a scientific and technical point of view?

“Yeah, Nicolò. As you defined previously, microplastics are little particles. You said also that it can reach tenth part of microns, so 100 nanometers—very, very little. Now, compare this kind of dimension with the ones of red blood cells. Normally, the red blood cells have a dimension of about 5 to 10 microns, so it means that microplastics can be up to 50 to 100 times smaller than the red blood cell.

So, microplastics are smaller, and the smaller they are, the more they can overcome biological protective barriers, such as skin, cell and membranes. So, let me say, thanks to their little dimension also, in some cases microplastic they are also very light in weight, little dimension, and so can flow through the air. Flow through the air and so can be at the end, be inhaled and finish inside your breathing apparatus.

Now consider that microplastic can contain, transport chemicals attached to them, or pathogens, or a lot of potentially toxic or harmful to human health substances. These substances can be present from the beginning: it means they are added during the production of the plastic, like plasticizer, dyestuff or any other kind of chemical addition that could be done during the production.

But in a lot of cases, the main problem can come from also what happens after to the plastic when it stays in the environment: it can collect a lot of things, it can collect a lot of toxic compound, chemical compounds and also can consent the growing of pathogen substances and organisms.

Microplastic can be used by this kind of product—chemicals and any other kind of toxic—and at the end, microplastic can be a vehicle for transporting these substances into the organism. So they collect any kind of chemical compound or biological substances and through their dimension pass through any kind of barriers, organics and biological barriers. And after, when they are inside the organism, they can release this kind of product. And so, there can start the effect of harmful or toxic substances.”

So, if I understand correctly, we need to learn more about microplastics before we can reduce their impact. Aquafil, the manufacturer of Econyl nylon, collaborated with STIIMA CNR, a polymeric materials research innovation center, to develop a universal method for identifying and analyzing microplastic footprints in products. Can you tell us more about this important project and its benefits for businesses around the world?

“Yeah. The idea of Aquafil was to be able to reduce the phenomenon of microplastic release. But in order to know about a phenomenon and be able to study it, you first of all need to be able to measure it in a unified way. Only by doing so it is possible to compare data from all over the world of microplastic release.

In a nutshell: if we all measure the same way, all the data collected can be compared and consequently, we will be able to understand more vehemently how the variables that regulate the phenomenon of microplastic release act. By doing so, we will then be able to take action to reduce the microplastic release, thus making possible proper eco-design that consider the minimization of the microplastic footprint.

So we combined our industry knowledge and that of the National Research Council [CNR] Macromolecular Institute of Biella to define a method that was solid, robust and accurate for the determination of microplastic released from the textile sector. So we invest more than five years and a lot of resources together with UNI, the national standardization body, in order that ISO, the International Standardization Organization, could achieve recognition as an official method for the determination of microplastics.

And in September 2023, not so far, this was finally achieved with the publication of ISO 4484-2:2023, the new methodology for microplastic determination in the textile sector release.”

Such progress is critical to mitigating the problem. However, considering its size, what large-scale actions do you believe policymakers can implement to help solve it?

“Okay, yes. Now we need policymakers to start aiming for an eco-design that consider microplastic release. But before even setting maximum release limits, they have to somehow incentivize analysis and data collection. We know that analysis are not exactly quick nor cheap, anyway. So a subsidy to research institutes, laboratories is required so that data can be collected quickly and consequently the phenomenon can be studied more accurately and promptly.”

As a final question, we always want to provide businesses with best practices for transitioning to a circular future. Can you share three tips for reducing microplastic release in the fashion and design industries?

“Only three tips? It’s possible to have a lot of tips, but let me say, I will give the first three that I think could be the most simple in the daily activity.

Minimize the use of products from the fast fashion industry. Not because they are worse than the others, but because they are “fast,” so they have a very short life and so they are increasing the quantity of waste production at the end of life. Consequently, a lot of this kind of product could be disposed in the landfill and at the end can release a lot of microplastic.

Reduce the number of half-load washes. Maximizing loads in washing machines is important because if you do half-load washes normally, you give more energy to the product that is in washing. Higher energy can improve the breaking of fiber and the release of microplastic into the environment.

Choose more resilient fibers. Let me say, nylon (or polyamide, it is the same product) is more resilient and strong than polyester or acrylic. If you have a fiber more fragile, it will be possible to be more simply fragmented. On the other side, you will need to consider that also products like fleece and staple fiber contain or are normally based on a lot of very short fibers. By this dimension, they are “microplastic-like” and so they are more voted to release microplastic.”