A patent-pending technology designed by British startup The Tyre Collective to capture the unseen synthetic rubber particles expelled by car tyres has been awarded this year's UK national James Dyson Award. Developed by a group of graduate students from Imperial College and the Royal College of Art, the prototype can be suspended from each wheel's steering knuckle, just above where the tyre meets the road, to capture the microplastic fragments released through friction every time the car brakes, accelerates or turns a corner. These microscopic pieces of artificial rubber, called tyre wear, account for more than half of all particulate emissions created by vehicles on the road and are released into the air and waterways.