LG, Whirpool, Kenmore, Samsung, AEG, Bosch, Electrolux, and Maytag,

You are at the center of a growing and disastrous environmental crisis, and you have the power to solve this problem. Not many industries have the ability to quickly and easily end an environmental disaster, but you do.

You can end the microfiber crisis.

Our ocean is being overtaken by tiny, microscopic pieces of plastic by the trillions. These plastic pieces are shed off of plastic-based synthetic fabrics in our washing machines. Washing machine filters do not currently stop these microfibers, so these tiny fibers exit our homes and head to water treatment plants. Some settle into sewage sludge, but most head out with the treated water into our water sources.

You can now find microplastics in samples taken from most bodies of water, rivers, and streams. Researchers from The Ocean Conservancy have found over 100 microplastics in one fish. Other researchers have found that these microplastics have reached the most remote corners of the ocean.

This kind of pollution is particularly disturbing because there is no real way to clean it up once it reaches our water sources. It is like filling a bathtub with glitter; you will never be able to clean up every single piece. Until a method for cleaning arrives, all of our water becomes more and more overwhelmed with plastic.

This has a significant effect on humans. Microplastics have become part of our food chain, being found in everything from our table salt to our drinking water to most of the animals we eat. We are now eating plastic with enough frequency that it could have a significant negative effect on our health; we know that plastics can effect hormones, disrupt our endocrine system, and has even been connected to cancer.

You have the power to solve this problem.

Small companies have already developed filters to stop these microfibers from ever leaving the washing machine. The technology and research is out there to filter these microfibers, leading to products like the Cora Ball and others. Some people are starting to use these products, but most are not.

These products wouldn't be necessary if it was standard to have a microplastic filter in every new washing machine sold. You have the power to stop this problem completely by shifting your product to serve this need.

No washing machine manufacturer is doing this yet, so if you did it first, you could get all the positive press from blazing a trail that could save our water and save lives. We can assume that with a little time and common sense, microfiber filters will be common practice, but you can make that day come sooner, and you can keep trillions of pieces of plastic out of our oceans.

Your company has the chance to do something heroic here, to help save our water and our people. Please develop microplastic filters for your washing machines and make it standard that they be included.