Natural fibers promoted as sustainable alternatives to plastic, including cotton and wool, have been found preserved in a U.K. lake for more than a century—challenging assumptions that they quickly biodegrade in the environment. For the study, researchers from Keele University and Loughborough University recovered textile fibers from a 150-year sediment record from Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. Lying less than three miles from the historic mill town of Leek, once a center of the country's textile industry, Rudyard Lake sits downstream of a significant site of industrial-era manufacturing activity.

Natural fibers promoted as sustainable alternatives to plastic, including cotton and wool, have been found preserved in a U.K. lake for more than a century—challenging assumptions that they quickly biodegrade in the environment. For the study, researchers from Keele University and Loughborough University recovered textile fibers from a 150-year sediment record from Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. Lying less than three miles from the historic mill town of Leek, once a center of the country’s textile industry, Rudyard Lake sits downstream of a significant site of industrial-era manufacturing activity.

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