Child safe packaging was an important innovation to keep kids safe.

Because even everyday objects can become a danger when put to the test of children’s curiosity and determination.

But in today’s world, child safe packaging creates big ESG challenges:

By preventing children from getting in, current solutions prevent anybody with dexterity impairments from getting in as well.

People with disabilities, elderly people… That’s more than a billion people worldwide with no access to essential everyday products.

Child safe packaging ends up making many products inaccessible to more than kids.

On top of that, they are mostly made of plastic, because alternate materials like cardboard are deemed too fragile.

Bad for accessibility, bad for the planet, child safe packs needed to change.

In a world facing climate emergency and waking up to accessibility issues, child safe packaging is becoming a real problem.

People today are no longer willing to accept solutions that solve one problem by creating new ones, negatively impacting Sustainable Development Goals, from Reducing Inequalities and Responsible Consumption & Production to Climate Action.

On top of that, dexterity issues are much more prevalent than we think, with 1 in 7 people concerned. Physical disabilities, illnesses, age… everybody will be faced with this at one point in their life.

So, while at first glance keeping kids out of laundry boxes might seem small, doing it in a more thoughtful way can lead to huge impact for people and planet.

Especially when scaled up and applied to everyday products like laundry detergents.

We want to keep all kids out of our boxes, but let all adults in. Especially the dexterity impaired. For that, we needed to find what made a kid different from all adults.

If we did, we could leverage that difference for our new locking system.

The answer was an overlooked but simple fact:

Adults have bigger hands than kids.

So we created a locking system that uses hand size as a key instead of dexterity.

And we made it out of recycled and recyclable cardboard.

We had to solve three problems at the same time.

Make safety locks accessible to all adults, make safety locks inaccessible to all kids, make safety locks out of cardboard.

On the one hand, we needed a solution that was easy to open for everyone, whatever the dexterity challenge they are facing, on the other, we needed a solution that would resist the determination and inventiveness of children who absolutely want to find out what is in the box.

The approach was simple, we worked with both groups in parallel, iterating pack after pack in real life conditions until it worked for both audiences.

A safety lock that every adult could open, made of cardboard, and that children could not force their way into.

It took over 200 prototypes and 12 patents to reach our goal, but we got there.

We created the ECOCLIC®.

A simple & straightforward cardboard locking mechanism that can only be opened by adult sized hands, but ALL adult hands.

To achieve this, we leveraged hand span combined to a two-part locking system. Only by using the thumb and ring finger at the same time can someone open the box. And that is done through two simple cardboard flaps.

But this wasn’t enough. We needed to prevent kids from tearing the cardboard box open.

So, we introduced a patented reinforcement system that made our new box just as resistant as plastic ones, but much better for the planet.

It may be cardboard, it may seem simple. But today it’s the only box in market that ticks the 3 boxes of kid-proof, sustainable and truly accessible to all.

Our goal was to reduce inequalities for as many people with dexterity issues as possible, and we did so with a bang.

This innovation launched on leading brands such as Ariel, Lenor, Dash and Fairy, finally making an inaccessible product accessible for more than 750 million people, and this is just the first step.

Consumer reactions mirrored those we had during prototype developments. People were amazed, grateful and most of all relieved.

“A richly deserved THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. Finally laundry tabs box that can be opened by elderly people with arthritic fingers.”

Mary, suffers from arthritis

“Many thanks! Just a small thing but a life saver for me.”

Michael, suffers from arthritis

“It’s incredible how easy it is!”

Misbah, suffers from Parkinson’s

Dexterity issues are so much more prevalent than we perceive, with as much as 1 in 7 people concerned. Physical disabilities, illnesses, age… Everybody will be faced with this at one point in their life.

This can become so much of an issue that users start experiencing distress simply thinking about doing their laundry and having to tackle the plastic locking systems.

“When I see nitty-gritty stuff I get nervous and my tremor increases”

Misbah, suffers from Parkinson’s

“I would normally hold the pack away from myself in case of any sharp edges to make sure it doesn’t scratch me.”

Jo, suffers from sight related issues

“My partner always opens the pack and leaves it open for me.”

Caroline, suffers from thumb related issues

“I have always had trouble opening the plastic box with great difficulty and usually finished up using scissors.”

Margaret, suffers from arthritis