Soap is the kind of ordinary everyday commodity that everyone takes for granted, everywhere — until a breakthrough in planet-positive innovation comes along to change the way we wash our hands, for good.
Women-owned and UK-based social enterprise Amplify Goods has launched an innovative powder-to-foam hand wash SUDZERØ, available to consumers, education, public venues and businesses alike.
Designed as a circular solution for Net Zero, it not only cuts carbon by over 84% compared to traditional liquid soap, but also reduces cost and waste. It manages to achieve all this while creating real living-wage work experience for people facing barriers to employment, including homeless and disabled persons.
SUDZERØ is a gamechanger for sustainability, suggests Co-founder of Amplify Good, Camilla Marcus-Dew:
“I’ve been working for a decade in the soap industry, and this is by far my proudest moment. This innovative launch takes us closer than we’ve ever been to a truly Net Zero handwash and paves the way for real social impact at scale through the creation of even more living-wage work, and the dignity and pride that comes with it.”
Carbon, water and cost savings
Backed by a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), SUDZERØ is estimated to deliver over 84% carbon savings compared to traditional liquid soaps. It cuts emissions across the entire lifecycle, from raw materials and manufacturing to transport and end-of-life — no shipping water; no single-use plastic.
Working with major distribution networks across the UK and Ireland, Amplify Goods products help organisations big and small turn ambition into action within their supply chains.
Cutting the cost to both the planet and supply chains, SUDZERØ weighs 98% less and takes up 97% less storage space than ready-to-use soap — generating savings warehousing, transportation and storage.
Foaming hand wash is also known to save on H2O — estimated to use around 300ml less water in every wash — and with this SUDZERØ reduces cost-in-use, too. Plus, the compostable sachets and refill-first approach shrinks costs in end-of-life and waste management, when compared to bulky empty soap bottles.
Finishing, labelling and packing every pack of SUDZERØ also creates about five minutes of vital work for someone facing barriers to employment — delivering social and economic benefit, as well as environmental.
Since moving to the Crisis warehouse in East London, in 2024, Amplify Goods has supported homeless and disabled people, refugees and prison leavers to earn money, build confidence and plug that CV gap.
As of last month, the social enterprise has already supported 18 individuals with over 740 hours of paid work experience, delivering over £820,000 in social value and helping them into long-term employment.
Refill-first model for circularity
SUDZERØ also embodies the Amplify Goods refill-first model, helping organisations shift away from single-use plastics and take steps towards a circular economy. On top of carbon savings and work-creation opportunity, SUDZERØ is UK-made with 94% naturally derived ingredients and scented with essential oils.
Circularity benefits of SUDZERØ include::
- Home compostable sachets that are 100% plastic and micro-plastic free;
- Each pack of large sachets avoids the equivalent of over 66 single-use plastic bottles;
- Use over 65g of repurposed materials including boxes uniquely cut cardboard boxes.
This is a high-performance, low-impact product, affirms SUDZERØ Launch Manager, Kirsty Wivell:
“We’re proud to bring SUDZERØ to market to drive circularity, Net Zero and social value and to prove that innovation can go hand-in-hand with creating valuable jobs for people in our communities and saving money too.”
Markets, impact and scale
SUDZERØ has been trialling with key supply chain partners since May this year in readiness for the launch.
Schools and universities alone use an estimated 20 million litres of soap annually. If just this sector switched from liquid soap to SUDZERØ, it could save over 44,000 tonnes CO2e — equivalent to 22,000 long-haul flights from London to New York, or the carbon that two million mature trees can absorb each year. It could also save up to 582,000kg of plastic and generate over 81,000 hours of paid work for people in need.
This is innovation with multiple sustainability impacts, and potential to scale, says Camilla Marcus-Dew:
“Now imagine small businesses, offices and football stadiums start joining the movement too. Could something as simple as hand wash help build a better society? Amplify Goods is proving it can.”
Ultimately, it is all about putting people and planet first, concludes Co-Founder Pasha Michaelsen:
“At Amplify Goods we design for impact – reducing waste and single-use plastic, avoiding unnecessary and harsh ingredients, encouraging reuse and refill, and creating real social impact.”
Plastic-positive and vegan
Amplify Goods is a certified social enterprise founded in 2021. It manufactures a range of sustainable suds and scent products with a laser focus on the circular economy and achieving Net Zero through product design, manufacturing, distribution, planned use, and end-of-life management.
All products are vegan, with no use of ingredients tested on animals, or unnecessary chemicals.
Alongside this, Amplify Goods reinvests 50% of profits into climate and wellbeing initiatives, supporting community-based environmental workers through its Quiet Changemakers programme and partners.
The enterprise is plastic-positive in partnership with PCX, recovering 4,000kg of ocean-bound plastic.
Amplify Goods is also carbon-positive, offsetting 89.06 tonnes of emissions — 5.06 tonnes beyond its full Scopes 1–3 total — through verified projects with Earthly.
All products are packed using reclaimed materials like reused cardboard boxes from Oddbox, and newspaper off-cuts to reduce supply-chain waste. Repurposed card is hand-cut to create bottle and bracket wraps, so creating valuable work. Amplify Goods also reuses its own box liners and re:mind plastic bottles for the deliver of SUDZERØ sachets from the manufacturer, giving them a second life.
Further Reading:
- More about social enterprise Amplify Goods; and its innovative powder-to-foam hand wash SUDZERØ;
- More on the full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for SUDZERØ;
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