Last month, Cleaning & Maintenance visited the Biological Preparations factory in Caerphilly, Wales to learn more about ‘BioHygiene’, the manufacturers of leading brand of sustainable cleaning products.
With its continued popularity across the industry, and its reputation as a ‘disruptor’, we wanted to find out more about the ideas behind the brand, and why its products are so popular.
The cleaning landscape is shifting. Expectations for hygiene, guest experience, and operational efficiency are higher than ever, while organisations are under growing pressure to reduce waste, cut carbon, and demonstrate meaningful sustainability progress. Historically, this has often meant compromise: choosing high performance at the expense of environmental impact, or selecting greener products that fail to meet the standard. For too long, the market has been shaped by these trade-offs.
However, while expectations have evolved, many of the products available on the market have not. This has led to an industry-wide move toward products and systems that flex to the needs of different sites, rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach.
Building a System Around Real-World Cleaning Pressures
BioHygiene – created by UK biotechnology manufacturer Biological Preparations – has spent the last decade developing a cleaning system shaped around the realities of modern cleaning. With more than 30 years of microbiology and formulation science behind it, the aim has always been to help organisations clean in a cleaner, leaner, and greener way, without adding complexity.
The range recognises that no two sites operate in the same way. Some environments require the speed and familiarity of ready-to-use products. Others benefit from the dosing control and waste reduction offered by concentrates. In space-constrained environments, lightweight pouches support efficient storage and replenishment. The formats differ, but the principle remains consistent: the same advanced eco-chemistry and performance standard, allowing organisations to choose the format that best fits their needs; not the other way around.
Alongside this flexible system, one area of the market has continued to grow: sachets. The idea is not new, but demand has increased as organisations look to reduce packaging, storage footprint, and the carbon impact of transporting liquids. Yet many do not realise that standard sachet systems often reintroduce the very trade-offs the industry has been working to move away from.
To make sachets work at scale, both the chemistry and the delivery system must evolve. Addressing only one moves the problem rather than solving it.
Why Sachets Have Become a Focus; And Why Many Haven’t Solved the Problem
As organisations aim to reduce plastic use and transport emissions, sachets have rapidly gained attention. However, this shift has highlighted new challenges; particularly around biodegradability and performance.
Under OECD 301 standards, a material is considered biodegradable if 60% breaks down into carbon dioxide and water within 28 days. This means up to 40% may persist. This is significant in the case of PVOH, a fossil-derived polymer commonly used in sachet films, which can contribute to microplastic pollution. Similarly, some sachets wrapped in paper still contain conventional petrochemical formulations, appearing sustainable on the outside while carrying the same environmental concerns in use. Performance inconsistencies can also lead to increased labour effort and hygiene risk.
To make sachets genuinely viable at scale, both the formulation and the delivery system must change. Addressing one without the other simply relocates the problem.
BioHygiene’s Biotech Paper Sachets: Eco Inside and Out
BioHygiene recognised this gap and introduced the UK’s first biotech cleaning sachets in fully water-soluble paper, a solution where sustainability and performance are aligned from the inside out. Since launch, the market has begun to follow, but BioHygiene remains the leading innovator because it is a biotechnology manufacturer applying biotech to cleaning, not a cleaning brand learning about biotech.
The sachets contain bio-based cleaning actives powered by microbes and enzymes, which continue working well beyond the initial clean. Once applied, they break down soils and odours at their source and form a natural biofilm that supports residual cleaning action. This means surfaces stay cleaner for longer, re-soiling is reduced, and cleaning teams spend less time revisiting high-use areas.
Operationally, the sachets dissolve cleanly in cold water with no gel-like residues common in PVOH alternatives. They are clearly labelled and multi-use across multiple surfaces and tasks, helping standardise training and reduce SKU counts across diverse sites.
In other words: all the benefits of sachet technology, without the trade-offs.
If you would like to learn more about BioHygiene’s Water-Soluble Paper Sachets, click here.