IDE students win Mayor’s Entrepreneur Environment Award 2020

The Tyre Collective is a startup with a mission to mitigate tyre wear emissions. We all know that tyres wear down, but perhaps not everyone knows that tyre wear emissions account for nearly half of PM2.5 (atmospheric particulate matter that have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers) emissions from road transport and are the second-largest form of microplastic pollution in our oceans. Airborne particles are produced every time a vehicle brakes, accelerates or turns a corner. This patent-pending device uses electrostatics and airflow to capture tyre wear right at the wheel, helping to save our lungs and the environment. 

Siobhan Anderson, Hanson Cheng, Deepak Mallya and Hugo Richardson came up with the idea behind The Tyre Collective while studying MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering, a joint degree between the RCA and Imperial College, London. They plan to continue work on the project with the support of InnovationRCA.

Two other RCA projects – SaltyCo and Biophilica – were shortlisted for the Environment Award. SaltyCo, developed by IDE graduates Julian Ellis-Brown, Antonia Jara Contreras, Neloufar Taheri and Finlay Duncan, uses extracted fibres from salt-resistant plants that can be grown with seawater, to create the first ever freshwater-free fabrics. While Biophilica is a new material developed by MA Design Products graduate Mira Nameth, which is a leather alternative made from plant waste that could replace leather, PVC, PU, and plantbased leathers mixed with plastic, for leather goods applications. 

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The Mayor’s Entrepreneur competition promotes and celebrates student innovation, employability and entrepreneurship. Now in its eighth year, the 2020 competition comprised four awards, each with a £20,000 prize to bring the winning innovative idea to market.

Learn more about MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering and how to apply.