XFilter

Remediation Strategy

Prevention

Plastic Type

Microplastics

Invention Category

Laundry

Used?

Yes

Included in analysis?

Yes

Location Invented

United Kingdom

Year^*

2019

Description

External laundry filter that enables the easy disposal of the collected fibres into everyday household waste about every 30 cycles.

Effectiveness or Ecological Impact

Non-peer-reviewed Effectiveness

For polycoton microfibers, the capture rate is over 80% (“Xeros: Our Technology,” n.d.). It stops over 90% of all microfibers from escaping into wastewater (“Xeros: Our Technology,” n.d.) and prevents 78% of microfibers from going down the drain (Carrington, 2021).

Peer-reviewed Effectiveness

It captures 78 ± 5% of microfibers (Napper et al., 2020).

References

Filtration. xeros. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://www.xerostech.com/filtration/

Non-peer-reviewed Effectiveness

Carrington, D. (2021, December 30). Companies race to stem flood of microplastic fibres into the oceans. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/30/companies-race-to-stem-flood-of-microplastic-fibres-into-the-oceans

Peer-reviewed Effectiveness

Napper, I. E., Barrett, A. C., & Thompson, R. C. (2020). The efficiency of devices intended to reduce microfibre release during clothes washing. Science of The Total Environment, 738, 140412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140412

* Year designates the year invented; if the year invented was unavailable, the earliest year that an article about the technology was published was used.