2024-LU3 Ripping yarns: Environmental histories of fashion in lake sediment archives from the industrial revolution to the present day

Overview

Microplastic fibres (MFs) are the most abundant microplastic (MP) in the environment (Le Guen et al. 2019). Released from the production, day-to-day wear and washing of garments, MFs have been preserved in freshwater sediments since the mid-twentieth century. However, an emerging field of environmental science is reporting a dominance of natural fibres (NFs) of cellulosic (e.g. cotton) and animal (e.g. wool) origin in the environment globally (Stanton et al. 2019). NFs are introduced to the environment via the same mechanisms as MFs and present the same physical and chemical risks. However, their environmental history and impacts have not yet been quantified, despite their use and emission long pre-dating MF’s relatively recent history of production and pollution. 

Although NFs are frequently marketed as ‘green’ and ‘biodegradable’ alternatives to plastic-fibred garments, they undergo extensive processing and chemical treatment to introduce colour and change their physical properties. These processes influence the degradability of natural textile fibres, including the mercerisation of cotton, which changes the structure of the cellulose polymer in the cotton plant (cellulose I) to the most thermodynamically stable form of cellulose (cellulose II) in the cotton used for most textiles. 

There is a pressing need to understand the environmental prevalence, persistence, and impact of textile fibres of all types, not just plastic, to inform best practice for this industry and its consumers. This PhD will explore the presence and prevalence of textile fibres of all types in UK aquatic sediment records across catchments with varying land-uses and link that to other sedimentary proxies of environmental change and pollution (such as eutrophication and climate change). This will include lake and reservoir sites with known histories of wastewater treatment, textile manufacturing, and river-connectivity. It will inform discourses of sustainable fashion, and consider the timescales over which plastic and natural textile fibres, as one of the most globally abundant anthropogenic particles, are able to act as indicators of anthropogenic activity. Textile fibre profiles will be related to other biological and physical proxies of environmental change in lakes and reservoirs (e.g., diatoms). 

At Wakehurst (https://www.kew.org/wakehurst), Kew can offer a biodiverse 535-acre site which forms a microcosm of habitats across the UK. This research will take advantage of this unique location, of woodlands, grassland and wetlands which includes Ardingly Reservoir to act as a control (background) site, as the only source of MFs and NFs is from the atmosphere. 

Figure 1: Loch Leven (A) is a Scottish loch with a detailed history of textile fibre sources, and a potential site for this PhD. This figure shows changes in textile fibre sources since 1854, including a woollen mill (blue ovals, (B-E)), a linen mill (purple oval, (C,D)), historic wastewater treatment (orange oval, (C,D)), and contemporary wastewater treatment (pink ovals, (A, E)) at the inflows to Loch Leven. This PhD will explore whether changes in textile fibres, and their associated proxies, preserved in lake sediment sequences (F) reflect historic changes in textile industries and wastewater management at sites across the UK.