Dehydrated cleaning products minimise plastic packaging

THE novel coronavirus pandemic was a catalyst for new norms - such as working from home - and the more frequent use of cleaning products.

A report published by Nielsen in March showed that sales for items such as liquid antiseptic and hand sanitiser rose in Singapore. Supermarket shelves cleared of household cleaning products were a common sight during the outbreak.

This trend has given rise to more plastic waste. Team SimplyGood - one of the five ground-up projects that the #OCBCCares Environment Fund 2020 is supporting - has found a way to make dehydrated cleaning products that can cut the amount of plastic packaging by as much as 90 per cent, compared to bottled ones.

Helmed by Clewyn Puah, 26, and Jeremy Lee, 27, the team produced cleaning products in tablet form to be dissolved in reusable containers, which will help reduce the production of plastic bottles.

Mr Puah said that the team's eureka moment occurred when it came across literature indicating that more than 90 per cent of a typical bottle of cleaning product is simply water, with the remaining 10 per cent being the active ingredients that do the cleaning.

"If we can deliver the active ingredients for these cleaning products to buyers in tablet form, this can reduce the need for repeated production of plastic bottles each time anyone buys a bottle of detergent," he added.

Funding from the #OCBCCares Environment Fund will support work to improve product formulation and diversification into specific cleaning detergents used in households.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), domestic and trade premises generated about 73,000 tonnes of waste in April 2020 alone.

This is 11 per cent more than the 66,000 tonnes generated in March 2020. The effort to reduce waste - and the resulting carbon emissions - is in line with OCBC Bank's ongoing efforts to help tackle climate change.

The #OCBCCares Environment Fund was the first private sector-led fund to financially support ground-up projects in 2017, encouraging more companies to subsequently come forward to offer funding support.

However, it will stop calling for fresh applications from this year, and will instead refocus on upstream projects from 2020 and identify gaps where sustainable and strategic support is needed to mitigate climate change issues.

Koh Ching Ching, OCBC Bank head of group brand and communications, said: "Our #OCBCCares Programme has always focused on providing targeted help to address gaps. So, in the same spirit - now that there is sufficient impetus to fund ground-up projects - OCBC will be moving on from supporting community projects.

"Instead, we will explore how our #OCBCCares Environment Fund can provide sustainable and strategic support upstream, to help mitigate pressing climate change issues such as rising sea levels and increasing temperature."