Singapore is Opening Refill Stations for Household Cleaners Across the Country
What if you didn’t have to go to the supermarket to pick up laundry detergent every time you run out? What if, instead, you could just walk down the street with an empty bottle, stop at a nearby dispensing machine, pay, fill up the bottle, and then walk home? Well, this imaginative and sustainable concept is becoming a reality in the city-state of Singapore.
According to Mothership, in the summer of 2026, the Singaporean manufacturing company, Lam Soon, announced its partnership with a start-up called Ecoworks, and they plan to open over 100 additional laundry and dish washing detergent dispensers, in addition to the 14 already existing ones, over the course of a year.
World’s Largest Producer of Single-Use Plastic
The idea for detergent dispensing machines, as Vulcanpost reports, came to Sean Lam, the founder of Ecoworks, after he discovered that Singapore is the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic products in the world. The recycling rate is only 6 percent. This is not sustainable.
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So Lam decided that he would focus on the reuse aspect of the recycling cycle and in January of 2024, the company premiered its first refilling station as a proof of concept. The automated station dispenses biodegradable, plant-based dishwashing liquids and laundry detergent that are produced using renewable energy.
Each station is cloud-connected, cashless, and requires no manpower to run. All a customer must do is bring an empty bottle at least a liter in size, pay, tap which type of liquid they would like and let the machine do its thing.
Though refill stations already existed before Ecoworks came on the scene, what set Lam’s vision apart was the accessibility of the machines.
“What’s been missing is a system that works outside of stores — closer to where people actually live. Something smart, unattended, and accessible 24/7. That’s what we set out to build with Ecoworks,” Lam told Vulcanpost.
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Growing Pains
Getting Ecowork off the ground wasn’t without its glitches. Because these types of machines had never been established in Singapore before, it was difficult to get the required permissions to use the spaces where the company wanted to set up the machines.
Another hurdle was convincing other companies to join them. Most companies that produce household goods have very specific and entrenched supply chains. Ecoworks disrupts those chains but also offers the company another source of revenue.
Now, with Lam Soon involved, it seems that Ecoworks can truly take off, and change the culture of plastic use in Singapore.
