Marella Cruises aims to cut ocean pollution from microplastics from laundry systems across its five-ship fleet by September.
The Tui UK & Ireland cruise line made the pledge after a six month trial on Marella Explorer which showed that 99% of microfibres were captured.
Two special marine filters were installed onto Marella Explorer ship’s crew laundry system for the trial in May last year to prevent affecting delicate ecosystems and marine life from plastic microfibres.
Marella Cruises’ microfibre footprint will be capturing an estimated 500kg of microfibre pollution per ship, per year, based on results from research by the University of Surrey and Cleaner Seas Group, which has produced a dedicated INDIKON washing machine filter.
“Through this capture of microfibres across all the laundry systems onboard it helps support the prevention of pollution from impacting marine ecosystems and the INDIKON filters can be reused and recycled for future use,” the line said.
Sustainability manager Olivia Wells said: “Installing the INDIKON filters onto our Marella fleet of ships will help prevent microplastics from entering our oceans, which have a negative impact on sea life.
“Microfibres, recognised as of the largest known source of primary marine microplastic pollution, can carry toxic chemicals that erode into the environment, accounting for 35% of the microplastics in the ocean.
“Our commitment to rolling out INDIKON filters across all laundry machines is a first for the cruise sector, and we hope other cruise lines join in the help to reduce microplastic pollution into our oceans.”
Cleaner Seas Group chief executive Dave Miller said: “It’s been a huge opportunity to work with Marella Cruises on installing the Cleaner Seas filter range and helping to mitigate their microfibre footprint across their fleet of ships.
“As we launched our professional filter range the team at Marella have been an awesome partner and supported not only our mission to end ocean pollution but have also set a new course in microplastic prevention at sea.
“We hope to continue working together across the Tui Group on its microfibre prevention.”