Cornish start-up Cleaner Seas Group (CSG) has won an award for improving the health of our ocean.
Bude-based Cleaner Seas Group has created a filter which captures 90% of the microplastics produced when we wash our clothes. The green-tech business already counts Coldplay, the UK government, and investors such as SFC Capital amongst its backers and has ow won the international Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2023 Award in Australia.
In addition to winning a prize pot of $50,000 AUSD to help the winner accelerate its growth, Cleaner Seas Group also won the right to pitch its capture system to Australian businesses interested in its technology.
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The business is part of a new wave of green tech businesses taking advantage of the rapidly growing green economy. The UK government estimates that the global market opportunity for UK companies could be as large as £1 trillion by 2030.
Retrofittable to any domestic washing machine in ten minutes, CSG's Indi is a plug-and-play filter that instantly stops microfibres from entering the waste-water system, the environment and our oceans. Based on the average weekly household wash, this typically prevents the same amount of plastic as exists in one carrier bag from entering the ocean per household per week.
Dave Miller, chief executive of Cleaner Seas Group, commented: “It has been a fantastic year for us. We are in a hugely exciting, accelerated growth phase with new products, markets, awards and investments. Increased awareness of the need for microplastic reduction and demand for commercial solutions presents a huge opportunity for us to make a difference, and recognition by an international award of this gravitas can only support our business development further.
“We are currently in the process of raising additional capital to fund the growth of our consumer and industrial filter business lines both in the UK and internationally. Further growth will enable us to innovate to maintain our position as the technological leader in microplastic filtration."
He added: “Everyone in the company has a personal connection to the ocean. We are surfers, kayakers and wild swimmers and we feel passionately about keeping the oceans free of microplastics. Our filter technology has the potential to dramatically reduce the problem of microfibre pollution, helping to reduce the prevalence of microplastic pollution in the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe. If every washing machine in the UK had a filter fitted, a staggering 63,180 kg of microplastic could potentially be prevented from entering oceans; the equivalent weight of two humpback whales each year.”
James Sirmon, technical director of Cleaner Seas Group, explained: “We have worked with universities and partners to inform our research, development and innovation. The filter cartridge contains a spool of microfibre-collecting filter paper. Our in-built sensor technology detects when each section of the cartridge filter paper is full and winds the filter paper along. An intelligent LED warning light system indicates when the cartridge or batteries need replacing and the unlikely event of a filter unit fault. We have designed the product to fit all washing machines worldwide, so it is a global solution for a global problem.”
