TUI’s UK cruise brand, Marella Cruises has started to roll out technology, together with the Cleaner Seas Group, to capture microfibres in all laundry systems across its fleet of five ships by September, 2025.
This comes after a successful six-month trial period on ‘Marella Explorer’, which showed that 99% of microfibres were captured, the company claimed..
In May, 2024, Marella Cruises installed its first two INDIKON Marine filters on ‘Marella Explorer’s’ ship’s crew laundry system for the trial aimed at preventing affecting delicate ecosystems and marine life from plastic microfibres.
Alongside the ongoing research with the University of Surrey, Cleaner Seas Group also commissioned an independent laboratory to test the INDIKON Marine filter’s capture rate.
A sample of both the laundry wastewater and a sample of the paper from a full cartridge taken from the ‘Marella Explorer’ were sent for analysis.
A test was conducted to compare the original volume of microfibres found in the laundry wastewater versus the captured volume from the used cartridges.
This test showed that 99% of microfibres were captured.
The roll out of the filters, which have been matched to the ship requirements through the support of Marella Cruises’ technical team and Cleaner Seas Group, will be installed across the whole fleet.
Parent TUI Cruises also trialled the INDIKON filters last year.
Based on the results from the research, Marella Cruises’ microfibre footprint will be capturing an estimated 500 kg of microfibre pollution per ship, per year.
This capture of microfibres across all the laundry systems on board its ships will help support the prevention of pollution from impacting marine ecosystems. The INDIKON filters can be reused and recycled for future use.
Olivia Wells, Marella Cruises’ Sustainability Manager, 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,” she said.
Dave Miller, CEO at Cleaner Seas Group added: “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,” he said.
