GENeco's seed investment in microplastics removal technology reaps rewards

At GENeco our business is all about finding innovative sustainable solutions.

So we were delighted to see that an innovative company we supported with seed funding has now received an additional $10m from Hollywood stars Leonardo Di Caprio and Ashton Kutcher who both have sustainability-focused investment funds.

In 2020 GENeco saw the potential in a small Bristol-based start-up company called Matter and decided to invest in an innovation that could be transformational in solving the problem of microplastics polluting our waterways.

Headed up by former Dyson engineer Adam Root, Matter is an innovation company pioneering technology solutions for capturing, harvesting, and recycling microplastics.

Founded in 2018, the company is now a leader in microfiltration with circularity and sustainability at the heart of the business. Their mission is to stop microplastic pollution at source. Matter’s development and growth is focused on the creation of solutions to address the major sources of microplastic pollution in wastewater, including the entire textile lifecycle, and supporting education and legislation to drive global impact.

This multi-million dollar boost in investment will enable the company to scale its microplastic filtration technology and accelerate its roadmap of solutions for commercial and industrial applications. Working with the GENeco team, Matter have started to review the microplastics challenges in the sewage industry (the plastics that are not collected at source by one of their filters) and any future potential for collections and reuse. Trial novel technology discussions have begun and are expected to develop in the coming year to understand that opportunity.

Matter is working with domestic and commercial laundry appliance manufacturers to integrate its technology into their products ahead of incoming French legislation requiring new domestic and commercial washing machines to be fitted with microfibre filters by January 2025. They are also partnering with textile brands and manufacturers to help them better understand and prevent pollution from microfibre fragmentation in the textile manufacturing process.

GENeco managing Director Barry Hayward said: ‘It is great news that people in positions of influence are investing in this sort of environmental innovation. Along with all people who care about the environment, we at GENeco are keen to ensure the world’s waterways and oceans are as clean as they can be and wherever possible free from human contamination

We are so proud to have recognised early the innovative and realistic approach to microplastic removal and recycling. We are also proud that we could be part of the seed funding round in 2020, investing 10% at that time, to allow them to develop and showcase this idea to the world.

He added: ‘Matter have always aligned with our circular economy approach making sure that the materials collected will be reused as other plastics and preventing unnecessary overconsumption.’