Centre recycles microfibres from clothes washing

An environmental technology firm has launched a microplastic recycling facility in Cornwall.

Cleaner Seas Group's (CSG) centre in Bude, which received a £1m grant for the project, takes cartridges which it sells to consumers and industrial laundries to attach to their washing machines.

When the cartridge is full of microfibres, plastics which are shed from clothes in the wash, it is sent by freepost back to CSG.

Microfibres are then extracted at the centre from the cartridges and turned into usable materials for construction, packaging, including new domestic cartridges, said the firm.

The project has received nearly £1m in funding from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme, supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Dave Miller, chief executive of CSG, said the "plug and play" battery-powered filter, which costs £129.99, could be fitted to a washing machine without the need of a plumber.

Each cartridge lasts for about 100 washes and consumers can then buy another cartridge which goes into the filter for about £14.

CSG, which was created in 2017, had been selling the filters since 2020, said Mr Miller.

Production of filters so far was "in the thousands", he said.

CSG estimates once the centre is fully operational it could recycle 86 tonnes of microfibres each year.

"Microplastic pollution is a global crisis hiding in plain sight," said Mr Miller.

"It's in our oceans, our food, even our bloodstreams.

"This facility proves that it's not too late to act, and that we can build commercially viable solutions that protect the planet."

The filters are already in use by Marella Cruises, which is capturing an estimated 500kg of microfibres per ship annually, said CSG.

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