Breakable Soap Innovation Reduces Waste and Cross-Contamination

As most of us have been paying extra attention to handwashing recently, a new design from a Nottingham Trent University (NTU) student is likely to be welcome news.

Product design undergraduate Bradley Goulding has devised a bar of soap which breaks into segments, like chocolate, which will help reduce plastic waste and reassure consumers it hasn’t been cross-contaminated with other surfaces. They can break off just the right amount to wash and use a fresh piece each time.

Bradley Said:

As someone who loves to go on holiday, as well as frequently travelling to and from university, it was apparent that I was using excess amounts of toiletries.

It’s not an environmentally-friendly way to travel, particularly when you consider that toiletries make up a large part of the 5.5 billion plastic bottles that escape recycling each year within the UK.

But not only that, in today’s context of Covid-19, it’s more important than ever for consumers to feel reassured that what they’re touching hasn’t come into contact with anything that could harm them either.

So I was keen to design something which gave people more reassurance about hygiene while also helping reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic waste that’s created.

Bradley’s design is based on using a breakable stick of soap, rather than a traditional bar, and forms part of an entire travel wash kit he has designed to be more hygienic and environmentally friendly, which includes similar sticks of cold-pressed toothpaste and deodorant.

Bradley created a working prototype and his design has gone on public display as part of NTU’s 2020 virtual product design degree show.