Two entrepreneurs from the North West claim to have discovered the “future of cleaning” - and the answer lies in probiotics.
Samantha Kitchen and Richard Greenwood created Bolton-based company We Are Probiotic in 2019 and said sales are projected to increase 1,983 per cent year on year, with the brand now worth more than £1m.
We Are Probiotic, with brewing partner Microbz, have given life to more than 1 trillion microorganisms, they said.
The pair said they came up with the idea after becoming increasingly concerned about the effects of everyday chemical cleaners used in homes and businesses.
After “months of research”, the duo said they found the solution in probiotics, natural organisms often referred to as “good” or “helpful” bacteria.
The brand has teamed up Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) to complete tests to further prove how well probiotics can be used to clean while helping the environment.
Ms Kitchen, co-founder of We Are Probiotic, said: “We visited various schools testing the air quality and found there was a significant spike in air pollution after the cleaners had been.
“After we investigated, we found that the potentially dangerous gasses produced by standard, chemical cleaning products remained in the air hours after application.
Most Read
“That was when we realised that we had to find a solution.”
Don't miss a thing - sign up for your free North West newsletter - and follow us on LinkedIn
Email newsletters
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
For all the latest stories, views, polls and more - and the news as it breaks - .
She continued: “Large corporations have been promoting cleaning products that ‘kill’ for far too long. We don’t want products that ‘kill’ beneficial microbes and we certainly don’t want consumers to use products that have contributed to ever increasing health problems in humans and animals.
“Probiotics on the other hand feed on grime, dust mite waste, allergens and organic matter.
“They do this for days after application and the more you use them, the more they will dominate your home, leaving no room for pathogens, allergens and other nasties to feed and multiply.”
She said the team “set to work” to create a cleaning product after it realised the science behind probiotics.
She said: “Once we had our product, we put it to the test, we used our products in a local care home for a month and the results were more promising than we could imagine, there was a 90 per cent increase in hygiene compared to chemical cleaning products and the air quality in the home was significantly healthier.”