PlanetCare

"...Until very recently, these two global crises, plastic pollution and antimicrobial resistance, were considered separately by scientists and policymakers. But a new line of research suggests they’re inextricably linked:
Plastic waste is quickly colonized by microorganisms, creating a new type of ecosystem dubbed the “plastisphere.” And bacteria living in the plastisphere are developing greater resistance to antibiotics at an unprecedented rate...."

An extensive and thoroughly researched article in Mongabay by Claire Asher offers an unpleasant insight into yet another dimension of the invisible and harmful microplastic pollution. A highly recommended read which also highlights why wastewater treatment plants can't do all the job and why the AMR (antimicrobial resistance) is such a threat.

"... While scientists work to answer these and many other questions regarding microplastics and AMR, public health experts recognize that action is desperately needed to stop the spread of drug-resistant bacteria and to control the flood of plastic waste into the environment..."

Stop. It. At. The. Source.

💙

Microplastic pollution can fuel rise in antibiotic resistance, studies find Plastic pollution is among the gravest environmental crises facing humanity. Plastic production since 1950 has exceeded 8,300 million metric tons, with most plastic waste ending up in the environment, affecting wildlife, ecosystem functionality, and human health. Simultaneously, the ability of disea...

It's Plastic Free July.

Most of us think about the plastic we can see: bags, bottles and straws.

But every wash of synthetic clothing releases thousands of tiny plastic fibres into wastewater. Over the course of a week, one household sheds roughly the weight of a plastic shopping bag.

The difference?

You never see it.

Recent research shows microplastics are now found throughout the ocean—from Arctic waters to the deepest ocean trenches—and throughout the marine food web.

That's why we've always believed the best solutions start at the source.

If you already have a PlanetCare filter, thank you. Every wash you've done has quietly kept thousands of microfibres out of rivers and oceans. It's an invisible win—but a real one.

And if someone you know still doesn't know about microfibres from laundry, Plastic Free July is the perfect time to start the conversation - SHOP STOREWIDE -20% WITH CODE FREE20.

**What's one invisible environmental issue you wish more people knew about?**

Prime Day is over.

The discounts have ended. Most of the purchases have already been delivered.

But one question is still worth asking:

**Which of the things we bought this week will still matter a year from now?**

The most sustainable product is often the one we never buy.

But when we do choose to buy something, it helps to choose things that solve a real problem, last for years, and keep making a difference long after the excitement of a sale has faded.

That's how we think about sustainability at PlanetCare.

Less impulse.

More intention.

Because the best purchase isn't always the cheapest one.

It's the one you're still glad you made long after the discount is forgotten.

What was your most worthwhile purchase this year?

We won an eco-innovation challenge for the Black Sea last week, but that's not the part I keep thinking about.

What stayed with me was a conversation over dinner with a Ukrainian innovation manager. At one point, I casually asked him when his flight home was.

“There are no flights into or out of Ukraine.”

A simple sentence that immediately put things into perspective.

Environmental work is important. But so is recognising the privilege of being able to do it at all.

While some people are fighting for their lives and their freedom, the rest of us have a responsibility to keep working on the part we can hold.

For us, that's microplastic pollution. Every filter fitted, every fibre stopped, every wash that doesn't end up in the sea.

Because pollution doesn't stop at borders. And neither should solutions.

We’re proud to share that PlanetCare has won the Blueing the Black Sea Eco-Innovation Challenge. 🏆🌊

Our winning project, FiberCatch, will bring PlanetCare’s commercial microfibre filters to industrial laundries on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.

Why the Black Sea?

Because it is a nearly closed basin. What flows in, mostly stays in. Researchers have found microplastics in 83% of sediment samples, with fibres among the dominant pollutants.

In our pilot project, PlanetCare filters captured around 2.7 trillion microfibres that would otherwise have ended up in waterways and the sea.

The goal is simple: stop microplastic pollution at the source.

Thank you to the organisers, partners, mentors and fellow innovators who made this challenge possible. We’re excited to bring FiberCatch to the Black Sea.

One idea can't clean an ocean.

People can.

This World Oceans Day, join thousands of households preventing microfibres from reaching our rivers, seas, and oceans.

💙 20% off with code **OCEANSDAY**
Shop here: https://planetcare.org/pages/1_existingusers

Because the ocean doesn't need our sympathy.

It needs us.

We are the fish.

With World Oceans Day in front of us, it is the time to remember some uncomfortable truths. We consume the ocean's benefits every single day - 50% of the oxygen we breathe and a climate system that makes this planet liveable - without once registering that we are destroying the very fluid we swim in.
The fish doesn't see the water it swims in. And we... We are the fish.

Every synthetic wash releases hundreds of thousands of fibres down the drain. Treatment plants catch maybe 10%. The rest reaches rivers, oceans, fish, tap water — and loops back into us. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has just launched a programme called STOMP - Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastic, because the levels of microplastics in our bodies, particularly in our brain, are alarming. The human brain accumulates microplastics at concentrations 7 to 30 times higher than the liver or kidney. The heaviest loads were found in people who died with dementia. In just eight years (between 2016 and 2024) the levels rose 50%.

There is an easy way to prevent microplastics from our washing machines from being released into our water system in the first place. Check the diagram below. Use a filter. https://planetcare.org/
Stay healthy.

Last month, the Texas attorney general opened an investigation into Lululemon over potential PFAS — “forever chemicals” — in its clothing.

What feels important about this moment is not only the investigation itself, but the fact that people are finally starting to ask bigger questions about what our clothes are made of — and what leaves them during washing.

Every wash of synthetic clothing releases tiny plastic fibres into water systems. Too small to see, too easy to think about.

The future of fashion is not only about how clothes look or perform.

It is also about what they leave behind.

Do you think consumers are becoming more aware of what’s really in their clothes?

Texas attorney general probes Lululemon over potential 'forever chemicals' in its activewear Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into athleisure brand Lululemon ​over the potential presence of "forever chemicals" in its activewear, he ‌said on Monday in a post on social-media platform X.

Happy 100, Sir David Attenborough.

After a lifetime spent showing us the wonder of jungles, deserts, ice and oceans, his greatest message is one of hope:

“The ocean can recover faster than we can ever imagine. It can bounce back to life.”

That is the part we want to carry forward.

The sea can come back — if we stop the harm at the source.

For us, that starts with microfibres from washing machines: tiny plastic fibres leaving our homes with every wash.

A small filter can stop them before they reach the ocean.

Happy birthday, Sir David. We are listening.

Happy Mother’s Day to every kind of mother out there. 🤍

The ones raising children. The ones caring for partners, parents, friends, animals, communities. The ones holding everything together quietly, every single day.

PlanetCare exists because of motherhood. Because of one moment when I realized that something as ordinary as laundry was releasing millions of microscopic plastic fibers into the world our children grow up in.

That realization changed my life.

And today, I just want to say thank you — for caring, for showing up, and for trying to leave the world a little better than you found it.

Code MOTHERHOOD still gives you 20% off storewide through tonight.