“In the same way that we have encouraged people to rethink plastic, we want people to rethink their throwaway culture which has sadly become the norm.”
Ecover, a Belgian producer of ecological cleaning products, has launched a new washing up liquid partly made from beer waste.
The new cleaning product is created using at least 25% waste ingredients left over from the beer brewing process (water and ethanol), the bottle is made of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic and the cap is made of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic.
The product is produced in Ecover’s (@EcoverUK) new washing-up liquid are leftovers from the manufacture of non-alcoholic beer. Non-alcoholic beer is made in the same way regular beer is made – using microorganisms (yeast) to convert sugar from barely into ethanol (alcohol) and other flavour molecules.
The ethanol is then extracted through filtering. The ethanol that is produced is mixed in with water as part of the extraction process which Ecover have used in their washing up liquid.
For the last 40 years, Ecover have been on a mission to redefine what being “clean” truly means, and designing products to reuse waste as ingredients rather than creating new ingredients is a small step towards this goal.
Tom Domen, Head of Long-Term Innovation at Ecover, said: “We are proud of the steps we have taken to help people reduce their plastic waste – from our 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles tour in-store refill stations.
“But we can’t stop there. That’s why with this new product we challenged ourselves to think about we could make use of ingredients that already exist and are currently wasted – viewing waste as an opportunity not just a problem. In the same way that we have encouraged people to rethink plastic, we want people to rethink their throwaway culture which has sadly become the norm. There is so much more that needs to be done, but making use of leftover ingredients and recycled materials has to be the future.”
source:Liz Gyekye