Allan Cochrrane | Times & Transcript

November 2, 2022 - Moncton inventor Luc Jalbert is launching a new powered laundry detergent he says will save countless plastic laundry jugs from going to the landfill.

"We've been working at this for eight months - the product, the testing, the branding, the packaging, and then we went to the grocery show and won an award for it," said Jalbert, co-founder of Prelam Enterprises in the Moncton industrial park.

The new product, E-Z Pur Eco is a laundry detergent that comes in powder form in a 40-gram pouch. The idea is to pour the powder into a 1.8-litre laundry jug, add water, give it a shake and let it settle for a while, which gives you enough liquid detergent to do 65 loads of laundry.

"My goal is to stop the madness of waste," he said. "Now you don’t have to throw away your laundry detergent jug, you can reuse it."

Jalbert says re-using a laundry detergent jug, rather than buying new each time, will prevent more coloured plastic jugs from going into land!lls. And since the weight of a pouch of powder is far less than a jug of liquid detergent, the shipping costs are much lower, also helping to reduce carbon emissions.

The product won a Top 10 non-food award at the Canadian Grocery Inovation trade show in Toronto last week. Jalbert set up a booth at the trade show to promote the product and says he is now in discussions with grocery and department store retailers to stock it.

Jalbert has been in the business of inventing and marketing such products for more than 20 years, using a laboratory at his facility on Baig Boulevard. He invented Just A Drop and Just A Spray, which are used to get rid of strong toilet odours. He also invented a laundry sheet which was sold to another company. When Canada legalized cannabis, he invented the Luky8 spray to mask the skunky aroma of the smoke. The toilet sprays are available at major retailers while Luky8 is sold at Cannabis NB stores.

For now, E-Z Pur Eco will be available online through Amazon and Prelam's website for $12.99. Consumers can purchase an empty starter jug online for $4.99, or simply re-use one they already have, or get both the pouch and the jug for $16.99.

Jalbert said E-Z Pur Eco is lightly scented and made for general laundry use. He's also preparing to launch a foaming hand soap, stain remover and a fabric softener.

He said the company is working on various ways to measure the powder for bottles smaller than 1.8 litres.

Jalbert said the concentrated power must be mixed with water before being used in the washing machine, as opposed to tossing the powder in the machine with the clothes.