A GROUP of environmentalists from Bude have been working towards eradicating the problem of micro plastic waste in washing machine cycles, writes Christine Williams.

When people use their washing machines, each time a cycle is completed micro plastics from synthetic clothing and materials are released back into the water system, eventually ending up in the sea. The damage caused is far-reaching and has a devastating effect on sea life, ocean habitats and coastal environments. To overcome this problem a group of Bude environmentalists — Dave Miller and Avril Sainsbury, Heather Sirmon and Graham Skelton and James Sirmon — have founded a Cleaner Seas Group with the aim of developing a washing machine water-filter that will eradicate the problem. The filter will not only remove 100% of the micro-fibres, but will do so in a closed looped system that they will not block up the machine but allow them to be collected and safely disposed of.

With up to 700,000 micro-fibres being released into the water system every time clothes are washed, it’s no surprise that micro-plastics have become one of the ocean’s biggest polluters. Water treatment works are unable to filter out these micro-fibres so it’s estimated that over 1.4-million trillion of them are currently polluting our oceans with the problem increasing.

Micro and nanoplastics are pervasive and omnipresent in our water cycle, the air we breathe and our food chain. Plastic particles have been found in the bloodstream of mussels and in human faeces, therefore scientists are now concentrating their efforts on finding the link between micro-plastics in our environment and the effect on human health.

Working with Plymouth University, Cleaner Seas Group are currently developing the product with patent pending.  In the near future, they will launch a kick-starter to market the product, with the ambition of starting manufacture by July 2020 and in doing so, providing further job opportunities for the local community.