It can be placed above or at the side of each washing machine and will retail for around £250 (but advance orders are being accepted on Indiegogo for £179).
The Gulp filter can be emptied into the bin once the LED changes colour, but Matter also plans to recycle the plastic collected. The company says it will be accepting returns of captured microfibres next year. These will be used for ongoing research or recycled into new products.
“Recycling microplastic captured from our products is the next step, which is why we are leading a number of research projects using the microfibres sent to us to find sustainable solutions for recycling microfibres from our laundry,” Matter says.
“Findings from our latest research confirm the suitability of compressed microfibres as a replacement for insulation panels. Our mission is to continue R&D into the reuse of microfibres to find the most sustainable solutions possible.”
There are other ways to reduce microplastics pollution, say experts, including washing clothes at lower temperatures and washing only when necessary, and buying new clothes less often as new clothing has been found to shed more fibres.
These days, 60 per cent of clothes are made from synthetic fibres such as acrylic and polyester, so another solution is to buy clothes made from natural fibres such as cotton, wool and linen from sustainable sources.