SOGGY tea towels spreading nasty bacteria around your kitchen could soon be a thing of the past thanks to an invention by a Sheffield student.
Paul Oxley, from Chapeltown, has come up with a hygienic, electronic way to dry dishes and dispose of kitchen mess - the Aquavac.
The 24-year-old, graduating from De Montfort University in Leicester next week with a first class honours degree in Product and Furniture design, created the product as part of a final-year project.
Dubbed the electric tea towel, the Aquavac can suck up wet and dry mess, dry hands and dishes, and is impregnated with anti-bacterial substances to fight germs.
Paul said: "Every year, millions of people get food poisoning and between 100 and 200 people die from it. One of the main ways of spreading the bacteria is through tea towels.
"So I have designed a hygienic solution to many of the chores associated with the tea towel.
"With all the polymers used to build it being impregnated with anti-bacterial substances, and in the most part dishwasher-safe, the unit is perfectly hygienic."
Hisproduct will be on display at the New Designers exhibition in London from today until Sunday.
And Paul is not the only Sheffield inventor to be getting noticed - University of Sheffield-based company BiBCOM recently had one of their products featured on the BBC's One Show.
The DAB Radio 3G Covert Camera captures live video footage and the technology can be used for a variety of surveillance needs.
The company has developed a product range called Guardian Systems, to allow carers to monitor dependants via live video through their mobile phone.
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