Your clothes are breaking into tiny pieces, and polluting the ocean...but you can help stop both problems!
MICROFIBER POLLUTION IS EVERYWHERE
The single biggest pollution problem facing our ocean is microfiber: trillions of pieces of tiny fibers flow into the ocean every time we use our washing machines, use our dryers and even while wearing our clothes. Particularly in the wash, our clothing fibers are fragmenting, sending tiny fibers (made of plastic and potentially chemical-covered non-plastics) out with the drain water. Just one fleece jacket could shed up to 250,000 pieces per garment per wash. New York City, alone, could have 6.8 billion microfibers flowing into its harbor every day (Miller et.al. 2017). That’s not great for the animals living in those waters, or for us.
Everyone who wears and washes clothes is part of this problem. Everyone could suffer the consequences of eating and breathing microfiber. Take a deeper dive into the problem of microfiber pollution here.
Ocean lovers and Cora Ball co-founders Rachael and James learned about the microfiber problem in 2013 and decided to take action and make a solution anyone can use.
A HUMAN-SCALE SOLUTION
The Cora Ball is a different kind of laundry ball. Inspired by the way coral filters the ocean, the Cora Ball helps prevent microfiber from breaking off our clothes and collects the microfibers that do shed into fuzz we can see, so we can dispose of microfibers in the right way. Together, we keep these microfibers out of our waterways and our ocean. Yes! Just toss the Cora Ball into your washer. It's a simple step that has a big impact wash after wash.
HOW THE CORA BALL WORKS
Most washing machines do not have filters. The ones that do are only good at keeping keys and coins from clogging your pipes. A standard filter cannot do what needs to be done: catch fibers too small for the human eye to see AND allow water flow.
The Cora Ball is a solution inspired by nature. Coral does exactly what is needed; it catches tiny things (plankton) from flowing water. The Cora Ball employs coral-like stalks with little bumps on the inside to get in the way of the little fibers. The fibers get tangled up in the stalks, and each other until you remove and dispose of them properly. You just drop or throw it in (works in all types of machines, even hybrid washer/dryers) and do your laundry as usual. The Cora Ball lets your washing machine function like normal and get your clothes clean. It is easy to use and easy to clean.
Independent tests investigating the effectiveness of the Cora Ball out of Dr. Chelsea Rochman’s lab at the University of Toronto (McIlwraith 2019) and Dr. Richard Thompson’s lab at the University of Plymouth (Napper 2020) showed the Cora Ball prevents 26% and 31% of microfibers from flowing down the drain respectively. Furthermore, in Napper 2020, the researchers determined that the Cora Ball helped reduce overall shedding in addition to collecting microfiber that is breaking off clothing and home textiles. This translates to the Cora Ball both protecting your clothes by helping them last longer and protecting the ocean and our public waterways by reducing the pollution coming from our washing machines.
SMALL, COLLECTIVE ACTIONS HAVE THE POWER TO ACHIEVE BIG RESULTS.
Lots of littles make a big! According to the McIllwraith 2019 findings, if every household with a washing machine in Toronto uses Cora Ball, there could be a reduction of 6-9 trillion microfibers from washing machines and about 61 billion fibers entering the environment through wastewater treatment facilities every year. These calculations show how much impact communities can have when working together to solve a problem.
A lot of tiny microfibers are making a big problem in our ocean. At the same time, our daily actions to live lower footprint lives will add up to big impact to save our ocean and planet.
