Five students of Universitas Brawijaya (UB) succeeded in creating an innovative product in the form of an environmentally friendly detergent from Lokan Shellfish shell which has a 9 in 1 formulation to overcome problems when washing clothes. The detergent product is named TemanBumi, this name was chosen as a form of concern for protecting the Earth like a friendship.
TemanBumi was initiated and created by a group of UB students who are members of one of the Student Creativity Week (PKM) teams in the field of entrepreneurship which won funding for PKM 8 Fields in 2022 from the Directorate General of Higher Education through Belmawa. The team consisted of Roofi Cahyaningtyas, Mayza Nur Sabilla, Tarisa Putri Lukiyanto (Aquaculture), Aldi Surya Alamsyah (Fishery Products Technology), and Muhammad Nazri Adlani (Physics).
“The idea of making TemanBumi detergent started because of the proliferation of laundry businesses in areas where there are boarding houses and rented houses which have led to increased demand for detergents in the market,” said Roofi, one of the team members.
Roofi explained that due to the development of this laundry business, many actors directly dispose of detergent waste into water bodies, causing environmental pollution.
The National Standardization Agency (BSN) in 2017 established a new SNI, so that only environmentally friendly detergent products are circulating in Indonesia.
“This is an opportunity for us to create TemanBumi detergent,” he said.
TemanBumi is made from extracted lokan clam shells combined with other materials and then printed in the form of granule balls which are packaged with gel plastic in the form of a water soluble film of sodium alginate which dissolves in water, so as to minimize the use of plastic waste for packaging. TemanBumi has 4 variants aroma, namely Bubble Gum, Lavender, Milk Coffee, and Wild Berries.
TemanBumi has a 9 in 1 formulation as a detergent that is antibacterial, anti-rust, anti-redeposition, biodegradable, brightener, fabric protector, low suds, skin sensitive friendly, and stain remover. With this complete formulation, TemanBumi is sold at a fairly affordable price of Rp. 45,000.00/cup with a capacity of 20 pcs with usage per pcs for 5-6 kg of clothing. TemanBumi is also sold per pcs at a price of IDR 2,500. TemanBumi is marketed online at market stores such as Shopee and Tokopedia under the name TemanBumi.ofc store.
“Using TemanBumi detergent is very easy, just put the clothes in the washing machine, then put TemanBumi detergent into the washing machine with packaging that doesn’t need to be torn because it will dissolve with water, then fill it with enough water and adjust the washing cycle,” explained Mayza.
According to Qurrota A’yunin, assistant lecturer from FPIK TemanBumi detergent products can motivate the detergent producing industry in Indonesia to compete with each other to create everyday products by applying the principles of green manufacturing.
It is hoped that the presence of TemanBumi detergent can provide a solution to meet the needs of laundry entrepreneurs and can reduce the negative impact on the environment.
“TemanBumi, Nyuci is Happy!”, the tagline of the TemanBumi team. (PKM/Humas UB/ Trans. Iir)
