This laundry bag was designed by Alexander Nolte and Oliver Spies for GUPPYFRIEND in 2016. Also known as the ‘Guppy bag’, this nylon mesh laundry bag is designed to catch microplastic fibres from synthetic clothing when they go through a washing machine. In a Kickstarter campaign between October and December 2016, the company raised €28,640, indicating a consumer desire for products which protect the environment. The campaign also attracted the attention of Patagonia, a brand with a reputation for responsible fashion, who offered the brand €100, 000 in funding to develop the product.

Synthetic clothing, including fabrics such as polyester or acrylics, shed miniscule microplastic fibres when washed. These fibres penetrate the filters of washing machines, to enter the waterways, and eventually the ocean. Research from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation established that clothing releases half a million tonnes of microfibres into the ocean each year, an equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles.

Nolte and Spies are co-owners of Langbrett, a German retail brand selling surf-wear and outdoor apparel. Both designers realised that their products, some of which were made with synthetic materials, contributed to the growing environmental threat of microplastic pollution. With help from the German research institute Fraunhofer, Nolte and Spies developed the Guppy bag, a practical solution to the problem.

The Guppy bag is predominantly made of nylon which - although a type of plastic - does not shed fibres easily. The 50-micron mesh allows for soapy water to reach the laundry inside without allowing the microfibres to escape. According to the GUPPYFRIEND website, the Fraunhofer Institut UMSICHT, which tested the bag, found that it reduced the number of fibres breaking off clothing in the wash by 79% for semi-synthetic clothes, and 86% for entirely synthetic clothes, and therefore extends the lifetime of the clothing.5 These fibres gather in the outer edges of the bag in visible clusters, which can be removed and properly disposed of.

While a large improvement, the Guppy bag is not a perfect solution to the problem of plastic pollution. The bag’s binding tape releases microplastic fibres in certain conditions, and it too will become plastic waste at the end of its life. The microplastic that the bag collects can be disposed of in landfill, but because of the longevity of the material it is still possible that this plastic will eventually end up in the ocean.