Green technology was the last thing on the mind of semi-retired marketing professional Renee Mison, but the arrival of a Korean-made machine that turned food waste into sludge water changed all that.
Mrs Mison, 48, was impressed, and also saw that it had a lot of potential.
It led her to buy the intellectual property rights to the food waste decomposer and the company’s Singapore units, and eventually set up Eco-Wiz last year.
Eco-Wiz has since spent more than $500,000 on research and development (R&D) to improve the functions of the decomposer, which is also named The Eco-Wiz.
The company has almost 40 staff, including engineers, researchers, production staff, marketing professionals and salespeople.
The progress is evident in the decomposer, which can now turn the sludge water into dry compost or cleaner water.
Eco-Wiz has installed the decomposer at several hotels including the InterContinental Singapore, and institutions such as the Singapore Polytechnic. Clients can either buy the decomposer, or rent it monthly.
They can then use the dry compost it produces as fertiliser for their gardens, while the water is clean enough to be used for washing floors and watering plants.
The Eco-Wiz stands on it own – it does not have to be hooked up to a drainage system or water supply.
One tonne of food waste generally produces one cubic metre, or 1,000 litres, of water, Mrs Mison said.
The machine has not only helped organisations become more eco-friendly, but it is saving them money as well, she added.
‘In Singapore, for every tonne of waste you send to the landfill, you have to pay a rather high disposal fee. Our clients have found that they are getting savings of 70 per cent on disposal fees after taking into account the purchase price of the machine.’
Eco-Wiz is not finished with its R&D. It has signed an agreement with a Thai research institution to improve the microbes that are used to break down food waste into water.
Microbes are microorganisms that act as decomposers, and are used in the process of recycling nutrients.
Eco-Wiz wants to develop microbes that can ‘specialise’ in the breaking down of certain food groups, so that the machine can perform its task faster and more efficiently.
‘So when I sell the machine to a food processing company that makes salads, for example, I will fill the machine with microbes that specialise in fibre,’ Mrs Mison explained.
This will allow Eco-Wiz to more effectively market its machine to food factories, supermarkets and even slaughterhouses, she said.
It also hopes to gain hospitals, schools and property developers as clients. ‘We could provide every household with a garbage grinder, attached to their sink, which can grind down all their food waste. We would also install the pipes that would then lead all this food waste into our machine,’ she added.
The machine would generate useable water piped back into homes for washing use.
Using the garbage grinder and The Eco-Wiz would also greatly reduce the number of pests that gather around rubbish chutes, Mrs Mison said.
While Eco-Wiz is still in negotiations with prospective clients here, it has started selling its machine to customers in the United States, Europe and China. The company is also studying ways to expand its business scope. In particular, it wants to develop the technology to recycle ‘grey’ water.
Grey water is wastewater generated by domestic activities like laundry, dishwashing and bathing that can be recycled on-site and used for flushing toilets or washing floors.
Eco-Wiz has also applied for a grant from Spring Singapore to conduct R&D into turning food waste into gas.
About the company
ECO-WIZ has refined a machine initially developed in South Korea that can turn food waste into dry compost for fertiliser or into clean water to be used for washing purposes.
It claims to be the only firm in the world to have equipment with such capability.
Eco-Wiz, which was set up in July last year, has sold its machine to 20 clients here. It has also ventured into the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Italy and China.
There are also plans to develop special microbes that will be more efficient in breaking down certain food groups, allowing the machine to be used in slaughterhouses and by food wholesalers. Eco-Wiz also aims to refine the machine further to allow it to recycle water and turn food waste into gas.
The company has about 40 staff and expects to turn profitable by mid-2012.
