This Razer-backed startup wants to reduce single-use plastic with bamboo toilet papers, masks

Gaming lifestyle brand Razer recently announced the launch of its US$50 million Razer Green Fund.

The fund was established through zVentures with the aim of empowering and accelerating sustainability companies, with a focus on renewable energy, carbon and plastic management. 

The first investment from the fund went to an award-winning sustainable products startup The Nurturing Co., which is most notable for creating Bambooloo, one of the world’s first single-use plastic-free, bamboo toilet paper and home care brands.

Bambooloo is on a mission to create sustainable home-care alternatives that are better for the people and the planet. It is also the first brand with zero per cent single-use plastic retail ready packaging.

Razer has been driving many environmental efforts to protect our world for future generations to game in. We are now looking forward to working with Bambooloo, who have gone above and beyond to protect the planet by making plastic-free bamboo toilet paper readily accessible to the masses.

We are excited to have met such like-minded partners and are confident that more budding conservation startups will step up to the playing field.

Min-Liang Tan, CEO and co-founder at Razer

Prior to the Razer Fund, Bambooloo had raised a sum of S$200,000 from a small group of investors in Singapore and the US in 2019.

The idea for Bambooloo was conceived in early 2016 in the US by Lara Amoroso, a single mother who wanted to make a stand against the tidal wave of one-time-use plastics.

She then teamed up with co-founder David Ward, and they launched Bambooloo together under The Nurturing Co. in Singapore at the end of 2018.

David, who is a veteran of the sustainable products market, shared the same vision as Lara, and wanted to design and create products that better reflected consumers’ desires for sustainable products.

The humble toilet roll as a flagship product

When Bambooloo launched, it started out with just a toilet roll, which still forms the backbone of the brand, said David.

Till today, Bambooloo’s toilet rolls remain its bestseller. Its toilet rolls are made of 100 per cent bamboo, which renders it completely biodegradable.

According to Bambooloo, bamboo products require 90 per cent less water and 70 percent less carbon to produce than wood-pulp paper products.

By simply shifting to Bambooloo toilet paper, a family of four can save over 30,000 litres of water in a year. Furthermore, all Bambooloo packaging contains zero single-use plastic and is made out of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified recycled paper.

Now, Bambooloo’s range of products also includes bamboo kitchen rolls, facial tissues and natural fibre reusable masks, which allows consumers to reduce their carbon, water and plastic footprint even further.

Its most recent product launch is it 100 per cent natural fibre NAT:Mask.

The NAT:Mask 3+1 Layer Reusable (non-surgical mask) is a lightweight and breathable reusable face mask made with a hybrid of three biodegradable natural materials: cotton, bamboo and silk.

Like most plastic waste, close to 75 per cent of used disposable masks end up in landfills or the ocean. The NAT:Mask aims to reduce the widespread use of plastic masks by producing a mask that is biodegradable and has a high safety performance.

The outer layer is made of 100 per cent cotton which is durable, breathable and great at filtering out particles. The middle layer is 100 per cent silk which is ideal for electrostatic filtering, while the inner layer is 100 per cent bamboo which is naturally hypoallergenic, antibacterial and antimicrobial. 

According to David, the company is growing at a rate of an average of 250 per cent for the last few years, with the brand constantly innovating to create new products.

David told Vulcan Post that whenever the company ideates for a new product, the team starts with the main objective of reducing or removing as much single-use plastics from the design idea and packaging solution.

“There has to be a reason why the product should even exist, and we stress test the idea against the market opportunity, scale and consumer desires trending in this specific product space,” said David.

After these three steps, the idea will then move to sample and pricing modelling and packaging design, before production begins. Bambooloo works with pre-selected factory partners whom they have visited and audited to its own requirements.

A strong commitment to sustainability

Besides its sustainable products, The Nurturing Co. has also partnered with various organisations that champion the environment.

For example, in April this year, it partnered with Seven Clean Seas, an ocean clean-up organisation that is fighting the plastic crisis, to further the positive impact that consumers make each time they purchase Bambooloo homecare products.

Under an initiative titled Project Urgensea, Bambooloo pledged to remove one kilogram of plastic from the ocean for every 100 rolls sold.

The Nurturing Co. has also won various awards in the realm of entrepreneurship and sustainability. It won the inaugural Best Social Enterprise Award in 2019, and the Social Impact Award for The Best Asian Startup Award in 2020.

We celebrate all our wins, and it’s wonderful to have peer awards, our industry recognition for the overall efforts being made.

But the greatest successes we have are when a customer thanks us for what we do and how our products are helping them make changes in their lives. This is something very special and warms the soul, as it shows we are getting something right.

David Ward, CEO and founder of The Nurturing Co. 

Ultimately, the startup’s objective is to help as many people across the world as possible make the small steps of change needed towards a better overall future and environment.

To achieve this to the highest possible level, it has to reach out to as many markets as possible and build around the product values already in place and appreciated by its customers.

“We will continue to listen to what they need, address what concerns them, and where we see the possibility of building better alternative products,” said David.  

“Through this open according and responsive product planning, we will build a true multi-product, multi-market company.”

Featured Image Credit: Bambooloo