New Washing Machine Uses Plastic Instead of Water
Xeros is working on a new breed of washing machines that will use only a cup of water per load, relying on reusable nylon beads to trap dirt and stains for hundreds of washes.
Nathan Wrench, program manager at Cambridge Consultants, pictured with the nylon beads used in the Xeros washing machine. Photo: Xeros.com
The U.K.-based Xeros has been testing the machine for three years. Through a partnership with GreenEarth Cleaning, the machines will soon be sold in North America. The initial target will be commercial dry cleaners and laundromats.
The Xeros machine uses 90 percent less water than a conventional washing machine, and it also use less detergent and energy for a load of laundry. Due to less water being used, there’s also less of a need for putting clothes in a dryer, which also saves energy.
For those wondering about a difference in quality or effect on clothing, GreenEarth claims the impact is negligible.
“The testing completed to date has indicated no appreciable difference in wear between garments processed in the Xeros technology versus the traditional laundry process,” says Tim Maxwell, president of GreenEarth Cleaning. “Extensive testing with silks, embroidered garments, and other delicate items have shown no ill effects.”
Xeros claims that the nylon beads are recyclable once they are saturated, but the company has not announced any plans to offer recycling. Typically in the U.S., nylon can be recycled as a scrap plastic but is not part of curbside recycling programs.
Carl Barron
posted on June 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 am
It’s all very well saying a ‘Waterless washing machine’ yet the reusable nylon polymer beads must surely need to be washed off, as the dirt must go somewhere.
There is also the fact that having nylon polymer beads knock the daylights out of your washing, will surely damage your cloths and make them wear out fast.
Signed Carl Barron Chairman of agpcuk
Stacy Sopich
posted on June 23rd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Actually the beads have this sort of molecular magic that activates when they are moist and warm that attracts and locks the dirt in the center of the bead, it doesn’t redeposit, and they can be reused hundreds of times. Ever have a nylon shirt that gets dingy and won’t come clean in the wash? Same thing in reverse. I saw it demonstrated at the Clean Show last week in New Orleans. And the polymer beads are really tiny, the mechanical action is no different than water–there may even be an advantage in extending fabric life. It is all very new, the demo was just a concept machine but it was pretty amazing.
Ron T
posted on June 24th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
The new technology seems like a good idea, and I’m sure the inventor has tested it a zillion times for cleaning and material wear. My concern is that small plastics are becoming a huge contaminant. They do not degrade, and when washed down the drain end up as silt, worldwide. They enter low and then accumulate up the food chain. This is a problem with manufacturing plastic and breakdown of any waterborn plastics (ex:floating pop-rings). If a zillion clothes washers worldwide require periodically disposing of a clump of loose plastic particles, where do they all go? If these particles are anything like foam packing peanuts, they will be easy to make and very difficult to get rid of (even with recycling “available”).
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sm
posted on August 6th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
DISASTER! What are these people thinking? More difficult to contain plastic pellets? We need a tax on plastics to pay for ocean cleanups http://bit.ly/BU0aX & http://bit.ly/4axRiL .Algalita will not think that this machine is an advance. Please contact them.
stovie
posted on October 15th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
If people are that worried about desposing the plastic pellets than they could just have it to where the manufacturers give u a 20% or more refund if u give them the used pellets to recycle if they make the refund enough u’ll get about everyone turning them back in, just have it that they bring them in when they get new pellets for the refund. if people don’t recycle them the manufacturer get’s more money but i think people will go for it if u make it a reasonable refund.