A santa hat decorated with sequinsImage source, Getty Images

Buying a new outfit for Christmas and New Year is a good idea. Experts say that sequined clothes are an environmental hazard.

"I don't know if you've ever worn anything with sequins, but I have, and those things are constantly falling off, especially if the clothes are from a fast- fashion or discount retailer," says Jane.

They come off when you hug someone or get in and out of a car. In the wash, they come off.

The same thing is happening with glitter. Both are made of plastic. They will stay in the environment for hundreds of years, fragmenting into smaller pieces over time.

"Because sequins are synthetic and made out of a material that almost certainly contains toxic chemicals, wherever they end up, it is potentially dangerous," says Jane.

There is a huge problem with microplastics. They're so small and move so quickly that it's hard to clean them up.

Microplastics were found in the snow of the South Pole.

They are not mass-produced.

40% of British women will buy a sequined piece of clothing for the festive season according to a survey by the charity.

Only a quarter of respondents were certain they would wear it again, and on average respondents said they would wear it five times before throwing it away.

1.7 million pieces of festive partywear would end up in landfill if five per cent of people said they would put their clothes in the bin after finishing them.

Microplastics can be found in liquid waste that ends up in a landfill.

Landfill isn't the final sink of plastic but a potential source of microplastics according to one group of researchers.

Barcelona shop window with sparkly sequined clothesImage source, Getty Images
Image caption, Sparkly sequined clothes are a staple of end-of-year shop windows, as here in Barcelona

40% of items produced by the clothing industry are never sold. She says that these could be shipped to other countries.

Among these shipments are clothes decorated with sequins. There are second-hand markets and landfill sites in East Africa.

Textile waste exports are not regulated. She says that such exports are dumped in poor countries where they end up in landfill sites or waterways.

It isn't a problem substance like other types of waste, such as electronic or plastic waste, under the convention.

There are plastic sheets used to punch out sequins.

Jignesh Jagani is a textile factory owner in the Indian state of Gujarat.

The companies stopped doing that after the state's pollution control board found out about it. It is a challenge to handle such waste.

Brunato said she began by making sheets of material that were cut out of the sequin. She used individual moulds to make the sequins.

Synthetic materials are sewn on to the sequin.

According to the UN Environment Programme, most of the material used to make clothing is plastic, and every time the clothes are washed, they shed plastic microfibers.

From the water to the food chain are these fibres.

Synthetic textiles are responsible for a third of the microfibers that end up in the ocean.

The fashion industry's use of plastic sequins and fibres derived from oil or gas is indicative of a deep reliance on the fossil fuel industry for raw materials.

The problem is likely to only get worse without significant interventions since clothing production is predicted to almost double by 2030.

  • Clothing industry
  • Pollution
  • Plastic pollution
  • Environment