A patent-pending technology designed by British startup The Tyre Collective to capture the unseen synthetic rubber particles expelled by car tyres has been awarded this year's UK national James Dyson Award.
Developed by a group of graduate students from Imperial College and the Royal College of Art, the prototype can be suspended from each wheel's steering knuckle, just above where the tyre meets the road, to capture the microplastic fragments released through friction every time the car breaks, accelerates or turns a corner.
The Tyre Collective is one of 27 national winners of the 2020 James Dyson Award, with other winners including a mycelium beehive from Ireland, an "ultra low-cost" water filtration system from Mexico and an artificial voice box from Japan that is capable of replicating the user's former voice.
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