Tyre Collective: Siobhan and Deepak Design a Seatbelt For Airborne Plastic

Here's a horrifying fact: humans ingest one credit card worth of plastic every week. Plastic is ubiquitous in everyday life, more so than we realize. The large plastic composite, for instance, the tires on our cars and busses, shed tiny micro-plastic compounds which find their way into our soil, food, and even the air we breathe. We don't yet know what the long term effects of consuming an approximate 5 grams of plastic per week will be, but my money is on not great.  

The team at Tyre Collective have a solution to a significant driver of micro-plastic pollution. Their award winning and exceedingly elegant prototype recently won the UK National James Dyson Award and the London Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition, highlighting both it's beautiful design and functional application. So what is it exactly? Well.... Imagine if a giant slice of pizza made of metal was affixed to the back of your tire, which using physics attracted all of the tiny plastic particles shed from that tire into a small receptacle instead of releasing them into the air for people to breathe. It's sleek, crafted to look like a 22nd century seatbelt for airborne pollutants.  

The journey Deepak and Siobhan have embarked on is just beginning, but already they're carving out a name for themselves in the sustainable technology space. While many challenges will arise, we're thrilled to have had the opportunity for them to share their story and will be eagerly following along as they build the Tyre Collective into the new standard for clean-driving.