Sean Lam had constructed an in depth profession within the fintech trade.
Having labored throughout cybersecurity and danger administration at main companies like PwC and Visa, he even went on to begin his personal fintech startup, Jewel Paymentech—a monetary danger know-how firm that was later acquired by Advance Intelligence Group, the corporate behind buy-now-pay-later platform Atome.
However after exiting his enterprise, Sean discovered himself at a crossroads. Though he had cracked some powerful challenges in digital funds all through his profession, he felt a rising have to create one thing with deeper, long-term impression.
That’s when he got here throughout a sobering statistic: Singapore is the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic waste per capita, with a recycling price underneath 6%. Whereas numerous initiatives to advertise recycling have been underway, few have been significantly addressing reuse—the step that ought to come earlier than recycling.
This realisation compelled him to take motion, and with that, Ecoworks was born. Immediately, the corporate operates a rising community of automated refill stations for family merchandise throughout Singapore.
The way it works
Ecoworks rolled out its very first refill station in late January 2024 as a proof of idea, and has since expanded to 14 places throughout the city-state.
As of writing, its stations solely dispense laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid, which the corporate claims are biodegradable, plant-based, and produced utilizing renewable power.
Past being mild on the surroundings, they’re mild on the pockets too, with one litre priced at simply S$3.
The refill course of at Ecowork’s automated stations is designed to be simple: Simply convey alongside a clear, dry bottle with no less than a litre’s capability, faucet to pay, choose your refill, and dispense.
All stations are totally unattended, cashless, and cloud-connected. “Behind the scenes, we monitor stock in actual time [and] handle transactions remotely,” Sean added.
Quickly, the startup will even enable customers to pre-purchase refills on companion marketplaces and redeem them on website. This might be both through QR code, or by Ecowork’s app, which remains to be presently underneath growth.
“We name this ‘refill commerce’—a brand new last-mile format that cuts out each packaging and shelf area.”
Getting the idea off the bottom
However refill stations have existed inside specialty shops for years, so what precisely units Ecoworks aside and the way has it managed to scale?
Sean identified that conventional refill stations by no means actually took off as they merely weren’t constructed for comfort. “They relied on individuals bringing their very own bottles, touring out of their manner, and coping with a guide, typically messy course of,” he defined.
What’s been lacking is a system that works exterior of shops—nearer to the place individuals truly reside. One thing sensible, unattended, and accessible 24/7. That’s what we got down to construct with Ecoworks.
Sean Lam, founding father of Ecoworks
For this reason the corporate deliberately arrange its sensible refill stations in on a regular basis areas, from HDB void decks to group centres and even college campuses.
Nevertheless, getting the idea off the bottom wasn’t straightforward. The largest hurdle the startup confronted securing the area to function its stations. In line with Sean, since such stations had by no means existed in Singapore earlier than, there was no established course of for acquiring approvals.
“Not like typical merchandising machines that dispense extra plastic merchandise, Ecoworks operates extra like a reverse merchandising system—every refill helps take away bottles from the waste stream,” he mentioned. “It took appreciable effort to assist stakeholders perceive that these stations operate as infrastructure, not stores.”
As soon as the startup overcame that hurdle, it raised a small pre-seed spherical within the low six-figures from angel traders. This funding enabled the corporate to develop its tech stack, broaden its pilot community and begin gathering information to show each its impression and viability.
One other important problem the startup confronted was onboarding different manufacturers. Many had deeply entrenched provide chains constructed round plastic packaging, so shifting to refill required rethinking product distribution—which comes off as an enormous ask. “We needed to present that this wasn’t simply an eco-initiative, however a viable new [revenue] channel,” mentioned Sean.
One of many manufacturers the startup has collaborated with is bio-home, which produces eco-friendly cleansing merchandise. Collectively, they’ve deployed branded refill stations on the Nationwide College of Singapore in addition to Metropolis Sq. Mall.
Constructing the ship because it sails
Up to now, Ecoworks’ efforts to scale back single-use plastic waste seem like paying off. It’s on monitor to remove 100,000 single-use bottles by the tip of 2025, and to this point, has already averted 558 kilograms of single-use plastic.
However the firm nonetheless considers itself in its early levels. Like many startups, the corporate is constructing the ship because it sails, and at its present part, it’s specializing in studying and amassing information from every of its sensible refill stations to plan a extra strategic and focused rollout within the subsequent part of development.
Within the brief time period, Sean is targeted on increasing the enterprise’s presence, and might be piloting a franchise mannequin to scale cost-effectively. He’s additionally trying to introduce extra product classes.
Wanting forward, the long-term imaginative and prescient is to ascertain Ecoworks as a “full-fledged refill commerce platform” throughout Asia. This contains getting into new markets resembling Japan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.
“We’re nonetheless early in our journey, however the traction we’re seeing reinforces the necessity—and demand—for smarter, packaging-free alternate options,” mentioned Sean.
Consciousness round sustainability is rising, and whereas the tradition of reuse remains to be in its early days, he believes it holds the best potential for significant change.
- Discover out extra about Ecoworks right here.
- Learn different articles we’ve written on Singaporean startups right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Ecoworks/ Edward Chia through Instagram
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