Liquid household cleaning and personal care products based on herbal water as a natural fragrance

Project background: Entrepreneurs across the programme area (PA) are competing in a globalizing market while experiencing growing demand from consumers and policymakers for improved resource efficiency, decoupled economic growth from resource use and reduced hazardous effects on human health and the environment. Demand for products that are of natural origin and from local ingredients grows more and more among the consumers. The project brings together 2 SMEs Mayeri from Estonia (EE) and Field and Forest (F&F) from Latvia (LV) to jointly develop new products: environmentally friendly liquid household cleaning and personal care products based on herbal water that acts as a natural fragrance. Mayeri is PA’s largest manufacturer of washing and cleaning products and has longstanding experience of selling its goods to final customers, Mayeri also produces liquid soaps. F&F is PA’s largest organic grower, harvester and processor of medical and aromatic plants (MAP) and it exports 100% of its products to agro-food, personal care and pharmaceutical businesses in Europe. Both companies share an above market average responsibility towards the environment, have long-standing research agreements with foreign experts and are experienced in implementing European Structural Investment Fund projects. Objectives: The project specific objective is jointly developing new products: liquid household cleaning and personal care products based on herbal water as a natural fragrance. The organic herbal water will be developed from locally grown plants. Their use will allow replacing the synthetic chemicals currently used in liquid household cleaning and personal care products, thus adding real value to the products as harmful impacts on the environment are reduced. Both companies are aware that customers will increasingly demand local and organically made products. The use of organically grown local plants reduces the consumption of synthetic chemicals, that mostly are of fossil origin (gas, oil, coal etc.). The substitution of the non-renewable fossil inputs with locally grown organic herbs are more sustainable, both environmentally (reduced greenhouse gas emissions) and economically (reduced reliance on a finite and increasingly taxed resource). Both companies are leaders in their fields, thus maximizing the financial and institutional sustainability of project results. As the jointly developed products are specialized consumables, it is crucial that the companies have the capacity to meet the demand of final customers. Experimental development activities will produce an experimental batch of goods in real life conditions to identify and correct any inefficiencies. Available land resources in LV allows F&F to expand its growing and harvesting operations. The post-project objective (5 years after project completion) is to export the jointly developed products across Europe to a target group of 10 million persons. Main activities: The project lasts for 16 months and consists of 3 work packages (WP). Management WP is composed of necessary unifying and contractual actions. New products development WP is composed of 2 activities: industrial research and experimental development. Industrial research will be used to acquire new knowledge and skills required for the development of the joint products. Experimental development will prototype, pilot, test and validate the new product in real-life operating conditions and will result in the production of one test batch of each liquid cleaning household products and one test batch of personal care product. Marketing activities WP will develop a marketing strategy (with acquiring new knowledge and skills) and materials to generate products demand (including through joint participation on a market fair outside PA). Cross-border nature: As the goal of the project is to jointly develop market-ready products, it is crucial to ensure that the required quantities of the products can be produced and sold to meet demand within and outside PA. Thus, it is necessary to bring together the two largest businesses of their kind in PA: the household product producer (Mayeri) and the organic MAP grower (F&F). Each company operates within different parts of the value chain (F&F provides the resource, Mayeri turns it into the final product) and has their own specific resource base and specific knowledge in their own field. That is why the partners can see the cross-border cooperation as a long-term strategy for cooperation. Both companies benefit from the project. F&F benefits from developing a new product (herbal water), creating a new revenue stream (long-term cooperation with the final seller) producing a high-value by-product from the existing production chain (finding the best method for extracting herbal water from the raw plants) and improved know-how. Mayeri benefits from developing environmentally friendly products, ensure a long-term supply relationship (with F&F), increasing further its understanding of LV market and improving know-how. The partners benefit from shared training, new equipment, improved knowledge base and new staff (4 full-time positions) that should result in increased sales, turnover and profits after project completion. The developed liquid cleaners for the household and personal care products can be marketed as environmentally friendly, organic ingredients based and locally produced in both countries, thus allowing it also to stand out in PA markets, while according to the environmental certificates criteria will make it attractive to consumers outside PA. PA benefits from the switch from being a resource exporter to a product exporter (higher added value and reduced trade deficit) as well as improved environmental conditions as synthetic chemicals will be replaced with herbal water.

The objective of the project was the joint development of liquid household cleaning and personal care products based on herbal water as a natural fragrance. In total 4 new products were developed: liquid hand soap, universal cleaner, laundry softener and dishwashing liquid. The developed products are an innovative, environmentally friendly alternative to current products that are based on synthetical ingredients available on the market. The use of organically grown local plants reduces the consumption and contamination of the environment with synthetic chemicals. The goal was to develop market-ready products and meet the product market demand within and outside Estonia and Latvia. In order to ensure that the companies can produce required quantities of the products, it was necessary to bring together the two largest companies in their field. SIA Field and Forest is the largest medicinal and aromatic plant producer in Northern Europe. Mayeri Industries AS is the largest manufacturer of washing and cleaning products in the Baltic States. Main activities of the project: Industrial research – the partners acquired new knowledge and skills required for the development of the joint products. Experimental development – the partners prototyped, piloted, tested and validated the new products in real-life operating conditions. It resulted in the production of one test batch of each liquid cleaning household products and one test batch of personal care product. Marketing activities included the market research and multiple promotion activities and materials (e.g. campaigns in stores, advertisements in magazines, social media, etc.). More information about the products: https://www.mayeri.eu/organic/en

The project contributes to the program result indicator - the share of entrepreneurs carrying out joint product or service development which are ready for cross-border cooperation. The project will be jointly implemented by one enterprise from Estonia and one enterprise from Latvia. Additionally, some project activities will be outsourced to other enterprises in the Program area, thus contributing to their economic activity and involvement in the development of new products.