Berlin start-up klaeny invents the Household routine New. With their environmentally friendly cleaning tabs, Nicolas Pless and Jannes Meier have found an innovative solution to make household routines free of microplastics and pollutants. In an interview with House of Eden, the two founders explain why they are plastic declare war:
Tell us about yourself, what made you decide to found klaeny?
Nicholas: Jannes and I started our mission by the end of 2019, to ban Micro plastic and single-use plastic bottles from private households. My personal awakening came three years ago. During my stay in China, I was confronted with the extreme plastic pollution in the country and decided: Something has to change here - not just in China, but worldwide.
I was wondering for a long time why cleaning agents are always so extensively using plastic - especially when you consider that they are mostly made of water pollution , that everyone could get from the tap. Does a clean home have to be harmful to the environment?
We decided to change that, so Jannes and I sat down and started developing ideas. We started with innovative detergent tabs that dissolve in water, made without microplastic and contain the best possible ingredients. We now also have sustainable detergents in our range. These are produced with 50% less chemicals than conventional detergents . We are particularly proud of our environment protection certificates.
klaeny Founders Jannes and Nicolas, source and copyright by klaeny
Jannes: We believe that consumers have the power to transform existing economies. Because we can decide by ourselves which products we want to consume. This allows us to directly influence the production chain and we can therefore take responsibility for the Environment . Together with our customers, we want to make the world cleaner and we start right at our homes.
How was the development process up to the first finished tab?
At the beginning we sat down and just experimented, followed by professional support from development laboratories. During his studies in chemistry and process engineering, Nicolas had already dealt with plastic recycling , which is why he is largely in charge of product development.
Why are conventional cleaning agents not environmentally friendly?
This is due to two aspects, the plastic bottles and the transportation. In my opinion, it makes no sense to transport cleaning agents in disposable plastic bottles, which are often at least 90% full with water and little bit of active ingredients. This creates enormously high CO2 emissions and the energy consumption is just way too high. With our solution, we save over 94% CO2 compared to conventional cleaning agents and at the same time enable us to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic.
How energy-consuming and polluting is the production of your tabs?
Our detergent tabs are not made by extracting water from conventional detergent, as often assumed. The raw materials are already available in the form of powder. The energy required to press a tablet and to transport this tablet from the production facility to the end-consumer is 90% less energy consuming compared to bottles full of liquid detergent.
Climate neutral and circular economy, are these topics you can relate to?
We follow the principle “Reduce - Reuse - Recycle”. We reduce the waste generated by household detergent, use reusable bottles, rely on environmentally friendly production of materials and manufacture products that are recyclable or have already been largely produced from recycled resources. We also pay attention to the environmental aspect of our packaging: We use innovative pasture-grass cartons, with which we can save up to 96% water in production. Our detergent packaging is also compostable.
We are currently trying to be climate-neutral in every aspect of our work. In concrete terms, this means that we offset our emissions with the support of climate-relevant projects. Together with the organization "The Eden Reforestation Projects"we plant a tree for each order. Through this cooperation, we are also helping to reduce extreme poverty in some emerging countries. In addition, we decided to further support the initiative "Theoceancleanup" with donations. It frees the oceans from carelessly disposed of single-use plastic; this project is also very important to us. In the long term, however, it is our goal, not only to be climate neutral, but to be climate positive.
Starter set, source & copyright by klaeny
Which pollutants in cleaning agents do users have to pay particular attention to?
Consumers should pay attention to the alcohol content, biocides and microplastics when choosing their cleaning agents. In our opinion, however, the greatest environmental impact of conventional cleaning agents lies in the fact that the disposable plastic bottle of the cleaner is already disposed after 2% of its possible life cycle.
Sustainable cleaning agents do not clean properly and are even more expensive, how does your brand get rid of these prejudices?
When switching to klaeny, an average household can save up to 40% in costs and, thanks to our cleaning agents, achieve an optimal cleaning effect without microplastics or other unnecessary chemicals. We want to make it possible that nobody has to compromise on price or cleanliness. We offer consumers a more sustainable alternative by purchasing our reusable bottles once and only buy our cleaning agent tabs in the future.
Who cleans the apartment in your home and do you have a cleaning hack for our readers?
Nicholas: We both clean at home. For many reasons it is of course important that we use our products ourselves. Not only because we can then check the products and offer them to our customers with a good conscience, but also to save single-use plastic in our own households too. This is our mission, which we stand for in professional and private life.
Jannes: I have to say I almost like cleaning glass, because that's where you can see the “before and after” effect most clearly. After cleaning, I recommend working with a squeegee and, if necessary, wiping the window with a dry cloth.
What can we expect from you in the future?
We don't want to reveal too much yet, but we still have big plans! We take customer feedback to heart and both improve our current products and develop new products. In addition, there are still far too many conventional cleaning agents in single-use plastic bottles on the shelves of retailers. This has to change and we will continue to work for this goal in the future by offering innovative and cleaning alternatives.
Thank you for the interview. You can find out more about klaeny here
