Fit washing machines with filters to reduce microplastic pollution, MPs say

Women's Institute supports initiative, urging manufacturers to take action on plastic microfibres

Washing machines should be fitted with filters to prevent microplastic fibres from clothes reaching waterways and the sea, the Women's Institute, campaigners and MPs have urged.

Filters are cheap and can catch almost all of the plastic microfibres produced from washing clothes made from artificial fabrics such as nylon, but there is no obligation in the UK for washing machines to be fitted with the simple devices.