A 海角视频 microplastic technology and innovation company has previewed a retrofittable washing machine microfibre filter in a bid to tackle plastic pollution.
Bristol-based Matter creates solutions for capturing, harvesting and recycling microplastics. The firm has today (August 31) taken its Gulp product to previews at IFA Berlin 2023, a global consumer electronics and home appliances trade show.
Matter, which recently secured £7.85m in Series A funding has found there are more than 171 trillion pieces of microplastic floating in our waters.
Textiles create 35% of the world’s primary microplastic pollution. Today some 60% of textiles are now made from plastic fibres. Every time clothes are washed, up to 700,000 plastic fibres are released from washing machines and into waterways.
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Gulp is an external, retrofittable washing machine microfibre filter that catches up to 91% of all microfibres from every laundry cycle, giving the user plastic-free washing with zero replacement filter costs and no additional waste. The device can be installed in all European washing machines and is compatible with any detergent.
The filtered microfibres caught by Gulp, a substance which is like the lint from a tumble dryer, can be sent to Matter, where the company is working to utilise this residual waste by recycling it for reuse, closing the loop on microplastics.
Matter Founder and chief executive Adam Root said: “Our mission is to capture microplastics before they reach the world’s waterways, and in doing so create a circular economy from the captured material.
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"Gulp is a sustainable, scalable piece of technology that empowers people to become part of the solution and make a real difference. By targeting existing machines with an external solution and developing technology for future integration into washing machines we are trying to tackle the problem from all angles.
“At IFA 2023 I look forward to meeting with industry to work together to tackle the profound problem of microplastic pollution from laundry.”
The Series A funding round, secured earlier this month, was led by S2G Ventures, the direct investment team for Builders Vision, and SOUNDwaves, the sustainability-focused investment vehicle backed by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary.
Additional investment came from Leonardo DiCaprio backed Consumer ClimateTech fund Regeneration.VC, and Katapult Ocean, which has made a significant follow-on investment, along with a small number of strategic investors.
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