Ecover unveils two cleaning products made out of food waste to ‘revolutionise’ the industry

A popular cleaning brand has unveiled two new products made out of supermarket food waste to challenge the “throwaway culture” and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions.

The new limited edition products by Ecover are part of its  ‘Too Good To Waste’ range and include a Multi-Surface Cleaner and Toilet Cleaner. An Ecover spokesperson said the company wants to encourage shoppers to rethink the value of waste and businesses have “both an opportunity and an obligation to make the world better”.

Developers at the company worked with pioneering partners to create the Multi-Surface Cleaner out of 97% rescued food waste and the Toilet Cleaner which is made out of 81% food waste. The food waste includes potato peels, supermarket food waste, lemon and mint, and sugar beet pulp. Potato peels are fermented to fatty acids and treated with alcohol from zero alcohol breweries and then converted into surfactants to turn it into a descaler.

The rescued lemon and mint have been used to create a fresh fragrance while the sugar beet pulp has been repurposed into a thickener so the cleaner sticks. The bottles are also made with recycled plastic and the Multi-Surface Cleaner intentionally comes without a spray nozzle, saving 35% plastic.

An Ecover spokesperson said: “We have long believed that businesses have both an opportunity and an obligation to make the world better, which is why we’re committed to innovating at an industry-leading level.“Our latest Too Good To Waste products are the result of us challenging ourselves and our trusted partners to think even further about how we could revolutionise the cleaning category by viewing waste as an asset. After all, waste is only waste if you waste it.”

The pioneering products have been created in the company’s “ecological factory”. It was built in 1992 and was the first of its kind using 90% recycled or renewable materials.

The project to reduce emissions aims to turn food waste from various industries including supermarkets and restaurants into high-value ingredients for household items like these cleaning products.

It hopes it will help create high-tech jobs in Europe and increase the value of food waste. The new products come after Amazon customers have praised the popular eco-friendly cleaning brand for its refill range that helps to cut down on costs.

The range was launched to help reduce plastic use with each product coming in bulk sizes of up to five litres, as opposed to the usual 750ml and one litre sizes in supermarkets. The products can be refilled once it’s been used up and they have been praised by shoppers as an excellent money saving hack.