Understanding the harmful effects of plastics in our ecosystem is one thing; finding a way to reduce the use of plastics in the first place is quite another. Dr. Melissa Duhaime, Associate Professor in EEB, has taken aim at one of the materials responsible for the microplastics in our waterways: synthetic textile fibers. With a seed funding grant of $200,000 from U-M’s Strategic Initiative fund, she and the team have built the THREADS Natural Fibers Research Collaborative with co-director Dr. Miki Banu, Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Her efforts to thwart plastics pollution while rejuvenating sustainable agricultural and fiber production processes have now led to a feature article in the Chicago Tribune.
THREADS, or Transforming Human Relationships with Ecological Advanced Design and Sciences, was conceived after Duhaime spent over a decade with her lab studying Great Lakes ecosystems, finding microplastics wherever they looked. The answer, she realized, could not be just a matter of cleanup, but rather addressing the source; fewer plastics will reach waterways only if fewer plastics are produced. The systems that keep plastics hitting the market, however, are interwoven and complex. The synthetic, petroleum-based fibers that dominate the fast fashion industry create microplastic pollution, but the industry also contributes to carbon emissions and exploitative labor practices. Untangling the issue requires contributions from multiple disciplines: ecology, agriculture, plant biology, materials science, engineering, design, and environmental justice.
In addition to collaborators at U-M, Duhaime has sought out partnerships with farmers, industry, and local communities. Together, they are working to build regional natural-fiber supply chains using a “soil-to-soil” cycle that follows a material from production, manufacturing, and use, before safely returning it to the earth. Through research, community partnerships, and student and workforce training, it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and microplastic pollution, connect rural and urban economies, and support equitable, sustainable production. Learning from the past and leveraging the full weight of our present social and technological knowledge, THREADS hopes to secure us a better future.
