Flushed with success
Foam invention aims to wipe out fatbergs
Billie Jo Hohepa-Ropiha used to get through a mountain of wet wipes when her two children were babies.
And while she appreciated the convenience, the waste created never sat well with her.
Now, the former Seven Sharp journalist turned businesswoman has invented a foam which turns toilet paper into an environmentally friendly, degradable wet wipe.
Most traditional wet wipes are made with non-biodegradable plastics, and their use spiked during the first Covid-19 lockdown in March.
Flushing them helps create giant pipe-blocking meshes of fat, grease and non-flushable items, known as fatbergs.
Here in New Zealand, local councils and the Ministry for the Environment say Billie Jo HohepaRopiha’s innovation is encouraging.
The product, called BDÉT, is a pump bottle of foam which can be applied to toilet paper and will turn it into a cleansing wipe. But, unlike a wet wipe, toilet paper with BDÉT on it can be flushed after use.
‘‘We’re not like another flavour of peanut butter... we are a brand new product that needs a lot of education,’’ Hohepa-Ropiha says. ‘‘It’s going to be a solution to a global problem.’’
She has had the idea for the foam since the 1990s, while raising her own children. She used them to trial various solutions, and the final formula is 98 per cent natural. The foam is made with the help of a laboratory that makes skincare products.
Her product is now available in 10 Countdown stores in Auckland and online, but Hohepa-Ropiha is dreaming bigger.
‘‘My biggest hope is that we can take it to all corners of the earth as a positive solution to a very big growing problem,’’ she says.
She says her drive is to show her children they can chase their dreams and that nothing is impossible. ‘‘I want to make my parents proud, I also want to pay them back ... and I just love creating innovative products, that is my goal, I love it.’’
Since leaving TV, Hohepa-Ropiha, whose iwi are Ngãpuhi, Mahurehure and Te ti Awa, completed a Master of Business Administration through Massey University.
A spokeswoman for Watercare, the Auckland Council water company, says while they cannot endorse a product, they welcome any innovation to reduce the use of wet wipes, which contribute to a $1 million annual bill to clear wastewater blockages.
Christchurch City Council reports 15 wastewater blockages relating to non-flushable items, including wet wipes, just since July.