• Swindon & Wiltshire Eco
• Monday October 6 2025

Bristol firm nominated for Earthshot prize

A Bristol company whose self-cleaning filter for homes and factories stops harmful microplastics from entering oceans is one of the finalists of the Earthshot prize.

The international competition, launched by Prince William back in 2020, recognises and celebrates people who’ve come up with big ideas to help tackle issues affecting the planet.

There are 15 finalists, five of which will be awarded £1 million each to further develop their technology.

Matter is in the ‘revive our oceans’ category along with one Dutch and one North American finalist.

The company has developed Regen, a “breakthrough filtration technology” for washing machines, which captures microplastics at the point of release in industrial and domestic settings.

Matter says microplastic pollution is one of the fastest-growing threats to the planet with over 171 trillion microplastics floating in the world’s oceans.

Research shows that microplastics are finding their way into human bodies with links to serious health risks, including reduced fertility and heart blockages.

The largest contributor to this pollution is microplastic fibres, released into waterways from washing machines in homes through to large-scale textile manufacturing.

Adam Root, founder and CEO of Matter said: “Our mission is to create impact at a size and scale that meets the enormity of the microplastic pollution challenge.

“The Earthshot Prize provides the platform to take that impact global – enabling us to work with some of the world’s most progressive companies and integrate our solutions into the largest supply chains.

“Being named a 2025 Finalist – and potentially even a Winner – would solidify our position as a world leader in this space.

“Crucially, the additional funding would unlock our ability to deploy more industrial units more quickly, while also helping us accelerate impact in the UK and overseas.”

The overall winners will be announced at the fifth Earthshot Prize awards in the Brazilian capital Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, November 5.

The new finalists join a community of 60 businesses who are making significant progress in protecting and restoring the natural world.

Together, they have raised over $500 million in funding, protected and restored over 1 million square kilometres of land and ocean, prevented over 250,000 tonnes of waste from reaching landfills and avoided 300,000kg of air pollutants.

Their collective efforts have already reduced, avoided or captured over 4.8 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions to fix the climate for future generations.