Chapter 1 · Kerala, India

Meet the fishermen
of Kerala

Xavier's catch
His nets come up with more plastic than fish.
For thirty years, Xavier fished off Kerala's coast. His nets used to come up full of sardines. Today, they come up with plastic.

Reported by National Geographic ↗. Kerala's coastal waters now carry up to 200 microplastic particles per litre.
Most plastic in the water is too small to see.
Chapter 2 · The Problem

The bottles are visible.
The fibres are not.

Every litre of seawater near Kerala holds hundreds of microplastic fibres — smaller than a hair, invisible to the eye. Tap the fibres to see where they end up.

Found 0 / 4
Tap fibres to see where they end up
Chapter 3 · The Source

So where do they all come from?

Xavier's catch
Where the story started
Rivers & oceans
Fibres drift with the current
Wastewater plant
30–60% of microfibres slip through
Your washing machine
35% of ocean microplastics start here
Laundry is the largest single source of microplastic pollution in the ocean — ~1.5M tonnes a year, globally.
Chapter 4 · Inside one wash

How many fibres did your laundry release?

Microplastic fibres released
700,000
from 1 load of polyester laundry
Wash 1 load = today
Chapter 5 · The Solution

Meet ChitoTrap.

A €59.90 filter from EcoMolecule. It catches 97–99% of the microplastic your laundry releases.

🔧 No plumber. Clips onto your washing machine in 5 minutes.
97–99%
Caught
€59.90
One-time cost
5 min
To set up
Validated by Whirlpool LG Reliance
🏆 Awards UCL VC Fund IIT Bombay Chempreneur 2026 Stanford Sustainability
Team: TUM · IIT Bombay · TU Berlin · Imperial
Chapter 6 · Your move

Be part of Xavier's next catch.

We're sending the first ChitoTrap units to homes in France & India — free at launch. Tell us where to send yours.

🌊

You're on the list.

We'll send your free ChitoTrap when we launch. Together, we change Xavier's catch.

Free when we launch · No payment required · Worldwide
Limited capacity — first come, first served.
Get It Free
A STARTUP BY ECOMOLECULE

Stop microplastics before they leave your home.

ChitoTrap clips onto your washing machine and catches 97–99% of the fibres your laundry releases. €59.90. No plumber. No new habits.

Sign up See our progress ↓
5 minto install
No toolsno plumber
€59.90one-time
700,000 MICROPLASTIC FIBRES PER WASH Chito Trap THE FILTER THE FILTER 97–99% CAUGHT HERE CLEAN WATER OUT
CHAPTER 3 · HOW IT WORKS

Where the microplastics go.

EVERY HOME living room laundry room RUNNING 700,000 FIBRES PER WASH DOWN THE DRAIN HOME WASTEWATER catches only 40–70% 50,000/year YOU EAT The path from drain to plate clean ocean WASHER Chito Trap THE FILTER THE FILTER 97–99% CAUGHT HERE CLEAN WATER OUT
Step 1. A normal home with a washing machine. Click the door to enter.
Step 2. The washing machine is in the laundry room. Click on it to look inside.
Step 3. One wash releases about 700,000 microplastic fibres. They leave with the wastewater through the drain.
Step 4. Wastewater plants catch only 40–70% of them. The rest reach rivers and oceans. Fish eat them. The average person eats about 50,000 particles a year through food and water.
Step 5. ChitoTrap clips onto the drain hose. It catches 97–99% of the fibres. The water that leaves the house is clean.
CHAPTER 4 · OUR PROGRESS

What we have done so far.

ChitoTrap has a working prototype. Industry partners have signed letters of intent. The team has received funding and awards.

🏆
Stanford Sustainability
Europe winner, 2026
🥇
IIT Bombay Chempreneur
Top finalist, 2026
💰
UCL Venture Capital Fund
Funded, 2026
🌱
EuroTeQaThon
First place, sustainability track
Letters of intent from
Whirlpool · LG Soft · Reliance
Prototype
Working, tested, ready to pilot
A real device that catches microplastic in a real washing machine. Next up: putting it in the first homes.
Team
VM
V. Maggie K.
TUM Munich
HR
Harsh Raj
IIT Bombay
M
Madina
TU Berlin
AH
Alice Han
Imperial College
CHAPTER 5 · SIGN UP

Get on the waitlist.

Add your email. We will send one email when ChitoTrap launches. No other messages.

  • · €59.90, one-time cost
  • · Catches 97–99% of the microplastic in your wash
  • · Clips onto your washing machine, no plumber
  • · Built by a four-university student team (EcoMolecule)
One email when ChitoTrap is ready.

You are on the list.

We will email you when ChitoTrap ships.