According to data from the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO), Spain consumes approximately 850,000 tons of cooking oil per year. The volume of cooking oil waste being produced is rising and consumption of vegetable oil is expected to increase by 10% in the coming years due to growth in the world population – a value that is equivalent to 150 million litres of vegetable oil waste.
This would not be a problem if not for the fact that just one litre of cooking oil can contaminate one million litres of water (DEFRA).
Currently, most methods of recycling cooking oil focus on the production of biodiesel, but there is not enough demand for this fuel to justify recycling all the waste produced.
Of course, we should definitely not be pouring cooking oil down the drain, as doing so clogs up pipes and contributes to sewer blockages, increases costs in the area of wastewater treatment and causes the formation of surface films of oil on our rivers, resulting in the alteration of ecosystems.
SOUJI has come up with a liquid formula made of substances of vegetable and mineral origin that takes just one minute to transform this used cooking oil into environmentally friendly soap and laundry detergent. The formula is safe to handle, as it does not contain caustic or toxic substances, and has a pleasant aroma, making the resulting mix the perfect multi-purpose product that may be used, for example, as laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent or to clean floors.
SOUJI closes one of the many circles in the circular economy, as its formula transforms waste into a useful, environmentally friendly product in just one minute.
Not even two years have passed since the project was launched, and yet SOUJI has already received recognition in various competitions, such as the Aecoc Congress, the Innovation Grant 18 and Unltd Spain’s acceleration programme.
No wonder. Thanks to SOUJI, we can now convert used cooking oil to a cleaning product!
What is more, their product can already be purchased at more than 70 physical points of sale, including El Corte Inglés, Carrefour, Herbolario Navarro, Planeta Huerto, Farmidable, as well as on their website.
Being an entrepreneur is not easy. There are many challenges and each day brings new ideas, new goals and more work. The team behind SOUJI is enthusiastic and, in 5 years time, would like to be positioned as a forerunner in alternative methods for recycling used cooking oil.
