Skip to main content

I have already talked about the eco friendly products that I use instead of regular washing powder or detergent. Now I present to you another item that I use to improve the environmental impact of washing clothes. Please welcome the Guppy Friend. The Guppy Friend is an innovative product that was created, to solve a very specific problem, by a group of surfers and nature lovers who go by the name of Langbrett.

Did you know that each time we wash our clothes, broken fibres leave our clothing and they are flushed straight into the water system?

Fabric microfibres

Clumps of microfibres after one machine wash of three garments.

Eventually these fibres will enter rivers and then the worlds oceans. This may not be so bad for natural fibres, but synthetic fibres leach toxins into the water and are often consumed by fish and marine creatures, which in turn are eaten by humans when tucking into their fish and chip suppers.

The ideal solution to this issue is that we stop making clothing from synthetic, man-made fibres and instead we focus on using natural fibres such as cotton, hemp and other plant fibres. This option, however, carries all sorts of other environmental issues relating to the use of land, water and pesticides. Plus, the world is already filled with synthetic garments, so we do need a solution for all of the clothes that we already own. This is where the Guppy Friend comes in!

A guppy washing bag

The Guppy Friend is a washing bag that has been specially designed to capture microfibres, preventing them from escaping into the water system.

You simply sort your synthetic garments from your natural ones. Then pop any synthetic garments inside the Guppy Friend making sure to only fill half of the bag, zip it up and pop it into your washing machine along with the rest of your laundry and wash as you normally would. As always, I recommend washing at 30 degrees maximum and using soap nuts and/or castile soap in place or regular washing detergent. Once your wash cycle has completed you can take the clothes out of your Guppy Friend and in the bottom of the bag you should find small clumps of microfibres. Make sure to really check in the seams and crevices of the Guppy Bag as the fibres do a good job of hiding!!

A guppy washing bag with clothes in it

Depending on where you live and what happens to your general waste, there are a couple of suggested ways to dispose of the fibres in the most responsible way. My general waste goes straight to an incinerator so I pop any fibres in with my general waste, knowing that they will disappear during incineration. If your general waste still goes to landfill, then it is suggested that you collect your fibres in a sealed container before disposing of them as this will prevent them escaping into the air or water.

The Guppy Friend has been tested rigorously and it is proven to reduce microfibre release by 86% compared to when garments are washed normally. To me this seems like a great solution for a problem that occurs in every household, it may seem like a minute detail in the grand scheme of sustainability but it’s a step in the right direction.

Please note that this is not a sponsored post, I am simply sharing a product that I love with you in order to help you find sustainable solutions for your home.

Leave a Reply