Adelaide's Hygiene Co. compostable plastic-free flushable wet wipes with plant-based fibre hit supermarket shelves

The Hygiene Co. partners Corey White and Phil Scardigno pushed a plastic-free approach embodied by their wet wipes made at their plant in the Adelaide suburb of Woodville North. Each year more than 25 million kilograms of plastic from imported wet wipes ended in landfill.
Image courtesy The Hygiene Co.

In a national first, South Australian wet wipes manufacturer The Hygiene Co. had its product being stocked on the state's Foodland supermarket shelves in 2024  after it was certified the previous year as truly flushable by Standards Australia, in a world first.

Corey White and Phil Scardigno joined forces in 2002 to start The Hygiene Co., making  eco-friendly plastic-free and compostablewet wipe products at its Woodville North plant. Unlike traditional wet wipes with plastic materials, The Hygiene Co.'s wipes used plant-based fibres.

White said the company's wipes were more than 53% less carbon intensive than traditional mostly-imported wipes. Each year more than 25 million kilograms of plastic from imported wet wipes ended in landfill – well more than 30 times that amount from plastic straws.

"The irony in importing these wipes is that 75% of the wipe is water, “White said. "We are paying a fortune and creating more than 10,000 tonnes of CO2 every year to basically import water.”

The Hygiene Co.‘s initial focus was on supplying its range to supermarkets for cleaning trolleys and to gyms and fitness centres for wiping down equipment.

YMCA South Australia had switched to The Hygiene Co.'s environmentally friendly alternative, while several Foodland stores also offered the company's wipes to customers increasingly conscious of shopping trolley and basket hygiene in the wake of Covid-19.

In 2022, the company was set to begin making a soft pack variety, including baby wipes and everyday cleaning wipes, with agreements in place with stockists including the Foodland network and Chemist Warehouse.

Scardigno, from a background in manufacturing eco-friendly building products, said his company was also producing medical-grade wipes with the potential to be exported overseas."We've got one product currently listed with the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and we've got another two that will be listed shortly in terms of medical wipes."

South Australian water utility SA Water spent more than $2 million in 2022/23 financial year to redirect unflushable materials – such as wet wipes – from pipes, pump stations and wastewater treatment plants to landfill. Typically, two-thirds of blockages caused by wet wipes occured at a property’s sewerage connection, increasing the risk of an overflow inside the house.