A new company formed through researchers at the University of Leeds could be changing the way washing machines function.

Inventors at the university have found a way of cleaning clothes while using only two per cent of the water used by a conventional washing machine, roughly equivalent to one cup of water. The lack of water also means the clothes come out practically dry, reducing any need for a tumble dryer.

In the UK alone, the average household uses around 21 litres of water each day washing clothes. In total this accounts for around 455 million litres of water daily, or 145 Olympic swimming pools. Xeros’ new washing machine will hopefully change this, reducing the need for large water usage.

Company founder Professor Stephen Burkinshaw says: “The performance of the Xeros process in cleaning clothes has been quite astonishing. We’ve shown that it can remove all sorts of everyday stains including coffee and lipstick whilst using a tiny fraction of the water used by conventional washing machines.”

The new technology focuses on using chips to pound the dirt and stains out of the clothing. Whether or not this method affects the durability of the clothing hasn’t been covered, however, the invention has attracted a lot of attention from the industry and, according to Xeros, we could be seeing these readily available as early as 2009.