The company has only been operational in Hong Kong for eight months but already services luxury hotel names such as Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental. The latter has recently banned the use of plastic bottles as part of its efforts to reduce its environmental impact.
The French company says this bodes well for its eco-designed and eco-responsible products such as Ecopump, 300ml dispensers
According to the company, Ecopump can help hotels save five times more plastic, an equivalent of 25 plastic 30ml bottles every month.
Aside from Ecopump, the company also manufactures Ecosource, a wall-mounted air-less dispenser.
Michael Sadarangani, general manager of Groupe GM Hong Kong and Macau said: “It is a patented product from Sweden which has a measured dose of dispensing the liquid. Unlike the Ecopump, It comes in a special recyclable ABS case with a heat sealed pack. It only has 11g of waste.”
The company has offers Ecopure, an additive that helps accelerate the decomposition of plastic, as part of its eco-green packaging offering.
“Plastic bottles and tubes take about 400 years to biodegrade. When added to the plastic, Ecopure helps it to biodegrade within 15 to 20 years,” said Sadarangani.
Groupe GM also produces environmentally and socially responsible formulas, he added.
“We don’t use any silicones or parabens and we don’t test on animals. Most of our products in the line is between 92% to 96% natural. A lot of people don’t certify organic and their formulas may contain only one organic ingredient. In our case, we have a whole certified organic range.”
The future is alternative plastics
According to Sadarangani, the company is looking to the future by researching more organic materials it can replace with plastic.
“I think people will experiment with new materials all the time now. We are using corn starch and sugar cane but there are other experimenting with bamboo… We are working on new kinds of materials so we can use more organic materials instead of plastic. That is undergoing testing at the moment and will probably launch at the end of the year.”
He added that the new Hong Kong office would be focusing on establishing more connections with major hotel chains in the region.
“Hong Kong is a mature market, everyone has been here before us. But Hong Kong has low barriers to entry and we hold 35 brands while our competitors only hold six to eight. We are already servicing some major brands in Hong Kong. We aim to get our footprint into more major chains, especially in Macau where they have some beautiful hotels.”
He added: “Sustainability is the biggest thing right now. Luxury hotels still want luxury brands but people are moving toward sustainable solutions. Since we’ve been operation in Hong Kong, every hotel we have spoken to has asked for eco-friendly options,” said
