£3.99 biodegradeable packs set to clean up wet wipes market
Flushable wet wipes company Twipes is set to launch its chemical-free product at £3.99 per pack by the end of the month.
The start-up, which is part of Allia’s Future20 incubator programme, has developed a wipe made from wood pulp cellulose which, when submerged in water, breaks down completely in three hours.
Twipes will also help the region as it faces a water crisis.
“With the recent reports on the dangerously low levels of water on the River Cam and the foul fatbergs uncovered by Anglian Water last year, you might be forgiven for thinking that our local waters are doomed, but fear not,” says the company of the new innovation.
Traditional wet wipes are a disposal timebomb, making up 90 per cent of the fatbergs that choke our city sewers, taking years to biodegrade and releasing microplastics into our water systems and oceans as they do.
The difference with the new invention is astounding. Around 11billion wet wipes are used in the UK each year. To be plastic-free and biodegradeable is an ideal development.
Not only are our riverbeds and seas littered with this single-use plastic, but Anglian Water alone spends £15million a year in jetting and clearing sewers of fatbergs.
Twipes’ co-founders are Elle McIntosh and Alborz Bozorgi. Elle, the scientist behind Twipes, first began playing around with a dispersible wet wipe when Alborz complained to her about wet wipes clogging his pipes.
She came to the conclusion an outright ban may not be the answer.
“The plastic straw ban worked because they’re not a necessity,” Elle says. “Wet wipes play a huge part in people’s hygiene, not to mention baby care. There’s definitely a guilt there, but people don’t feel they’re able to compromise.”
Alborz was one of them, he admitted: “Like so many people, I was just blind to the impact. None of them break down, at least not without releasing harmful plastic. Labelling a product as ‘flushable’ is really misleading.”
Each day they “took to social media to call out every wet wipe company on their negative impact and misleading marketing information”.
“Labels such as flushable, biodegradable and vegan can lull the public into a false sense of security,”, says Elle, “with many companies not even actually able to give a straight answer as to actually when their product breaks down, if at all”.
Alborz came to a conclusion: “People are more willing to change their products than habits, so that’s how we’re tackling the issue.”
Alcohol-free and paraben-free, Twipes has aimed to provide the wipe for a wide range of uses, not just for the toilet: “From makeup remover to baby care, it’s friendly for the skin.”
Being affordable also matters.
“To be conscientious when it comes to your environmental impact, that shouldn’t be a privilege,” says Elle, “it should be a necessity.”
Elle has already been honoured at the Black British Business Awards, but in 2019 the Princess Diana Award for her humanitarian efforts in the field of science won her the recognition not just as an entrepreneur, but the inventor of a product that will really make a difference.
“The awards have been really encouraging, but I don’t want to celebrate just yet!” says Elle.
Emma Mee, programme manager at Allia, said: “Allia’s Future 20 recruited 20 innovative start-ups back in June last year, and is supporting their growth through a bespoke programme of workshops and advice from advisors and mentors, experts and seasoned entrepreneurs. The team at Twipes have jumped on every opportunity with huge enthusiasm and a single-mindedness to get their product launched as soon as possible. They are incredibly loyal to the cause of creating something truly environmentally friendly, and I'm looking forward to receiving my first pack very soon!”
Twipes will go on sale online this month.
