Top award for water-free washer

Xeros, which is based at Catcliffe’s Advanced Manufacturing Park, won Best Technological Breakthrough at the first Climate Week Awards for its invention, which uses beads to clean clothes, saving water, energy, carbon and waste.

Chief executive Bill Westwater said that he was delighted to win the award.

“It is a testament to Dr Steve Jenkins, our chief technology officer and his team, who have developed a unique cleaning technology that significantly reduces the environmental impact of cleaning clothes.

“The global laundry industry is worth over £60 billion per annum, and this award gives Xeros a tremendous boost as we continue down this exciting path.”

Harnessing over 30 years of research, Xeros staff believe that their technology has the potential to transform the way the commercial laundry market cleans clothes by offering an environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional washing.

The firm’s machines use special polymer beads rather than the usual large amounts of fresh water to clean clothes.

A small amount of water is added to loosen clothing stains and activate the beads and the garments are tumbled gently in the beads, sucking dirt off the clothes by absorbing it into their molecular structure.

The Xeros beads work for hundreds of washes and at the end of their cleaning life, can be re-used for other purposes, including by the car industry.

Dr Jenkins received the award from Lord Marland, parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

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