Just add water. That is the simple but creative solution by Mr Clewyn Puah and Mr Jeremy Lee, two entrepreneurs who hope their “detergent tablet” will replace dishwashing liquid in wasteful large plastic bottles.

Their dehydrated cleaning product could cut the amount of plastic packaging by as much as 90%, and lead to lower carbon emissions through the reduced shipping volume and weight, they said.

Their Team SimplyGood project was one of five selected in 2019 by OCBC Bank – out of 67 projects – to receive funding from the #OCBCCares Environment Fund.

The total funding of $100,900 for the five projects will help teams further develop their innovations.

Mr Puah and Mr Lee are co-founders of UglyGood, a start-up that upcycles fruit waste by turning it into products.

While they worked with companies that had the relevant expertise, they had to do their own research on the tablet’s formulation as well as efficiency tests.

They also engaged an external organisation to conduct microbial tests on how well their product cleaned items.

According to the National Environment Agency, Singapore disposed of nearly three million tonnes of waste last year, of which about 30% was plastic waste. Only 4% of plastic waste was recycled in 2019.

Read more here.

 

Source: The Straits Times, 9 June 2020