Every month, The Groundbreakers puts an inspiring initiative, product or company in the spotlight. By sharing knowledge and inspiration, we want to stimulate sustainable developments and we hope to contribute to the greening of the business community. This time we would like to highlight the Court of Cartesius in Utrecht. The Groundbreakers team was given a tour of this circularly built workplace. Finally, we did a workshop at the second-hand hardware store Buurman Utrecht. Seepje out. This green company is committed to a cleaner future by making cleaning products from natural ingredients.

Cleaner future

Seepje makes sustainable cleaning products based on natural ingredients. Three aspects are central to the selection and development: the origin of the ingredients, the health of consumers and the consequences for the environment. The cleaning products therefore do not contain unnecessary fossil raw materials, but are made, for example, from foaming supershells. Also known as the Sapindus mukorossi fruit. This fruit grows in abundance on trees in Nepal and produces a natural form of soap with a unique cleaning power. When the peels come into contact with water, they release their soap and you can clean your office with it!

“Clean enough of dirty soap? Was your world cleaner!”

Co2 emissions to spare

Carbon dioxide is one of the main causes of climate change. In 2018, the transport of the peels, extract and soap pumps emitted approximately 1,106 kg of CO2. To improve this, Seepje has been working with The GoodShipping Program since the end of 2018, which wants to change the standard in shipping from fossil to sustainable biofuel. This means, among other things, that the super shells are now based on 2nd generation of biofuels, made from waste or residual flows, transported from Asia to the Netherlands. This prevents approximately 1,106 kg of CO2 emissions annually, making the journey of the peels now CO2 neutral!

To save more emissions, Seepje has also created a handy refill for hand soap, for example. This saves 44% of emissions on packaging. The refill bag of hand soap only contains powder, by adding water it turns into a full-fledged hand soap. At this time, the bag is only made of paper, plastic and aluminum foil to protect the powder from moisture. Unfortunately, this means that the refill bag is not yet 100% recyclable.

Natural ingredients

All Seepje products are biodegradable, which means that the substance can be broken down by fungi and bacteria. This just says nothing about how long a product or packaging takes to break down and whether it breaks down at all. The right conditions are required for this. That is why you cannot simply throw a biodegradable product or packaging into the bushes! However, more than 99% of the ingredients that Seepje uses are of natural origin. For example, Albert Heijn's orange peels are used for the delicious 'freshly squeezed orange scent' of the dishwashing liquid! Curious how this works? Then watch the video!

We are fans of this clean soap and we use this soap to keep our office nice and fresh and hygienic!

Want to know more about Seepje? Go to https://www.seepje.nl/