An invention. good idea?

30 Comments

I had a thought. I hate plastic packaging and all the waste it creates. So, why can't there be a store chain that sells bulk things such as detergents, dish soaps, febreeze, bleach-commonly bought items, that create so much plastic waste. You could bring your own bottle for refilling. You'd get a discount for bringing your own bottle as an incentive. Imagine how much would be saved in plastic waste and shipping alone.

Also, this idea would be useful in laundromats. Imagine a station kind of like a soda fountain, that would dispense a measured amount of detergent, bleach, etc. It would be held in tanks and pumped through a hose system, unless of course it was a powder. This would cut costs and waste, as there would be so much less packaging, less shipping costs and so on. You would be encouraged to use your own cup for collection, but there would be an option to purchase a cup of some sort in case you forgot one. This would replace the old style vending machines that are commonly in a laundry.

Yes? No?

Yes to both ideas! 34
No to both ideas! 1
Yes to first idea, not second. 4
Yes to second idea, not first. 1
Ill chime in with a comment of my own! 3
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Comments ( 30 )
  • SoccerStud88
    12 years ago

    Brb, creating a business with this idea. Thx

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    • Stereo_Hearts
      12 years ago

      LOL

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  • Juniperroach
    12 years ago

    You can do anything you put your mind to. Just create a picture in your mind of you achieving it.dont even ask our opioions because that is just doubt talking. Do it & then give me some $ haha but really you can do whatever you want to in life.

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  • Just1question
    12 years ago

    Something like that used to be done in the uk. With glass bottles. You used to take them back to the shop and you would get a percentage of your money back. And the glass bottle would be used again. Last time I travelled to Africa they where still doing it out there as well.

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  • lisac1919
    12 years ago

    probably there could be sanitation issues with that?

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      12 years ago

      The poop tube or the detergents?

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      • lisac1919
        12 years ago

        i just mean that have everyone dipping or pouring themselves cups of chemicals may not be sanitary.

        besides there would have to be a big holder for all that bleach or whatever to just sit. i dont know if that can have a bad effect or not...im just guessing

        plus to be in that area with a big amount of chemicals could be dangerous for you to inhale or something.

        if its just about the plastic, people should recycle thats all...we have the luxery of having things wrapped nowadays, even if it is bad for the earth...but basically there are tonnes of environmentally unsafe things creating waste but thats how its going to be as we start getting better and better technology. the earth isnt going to be destroyed because of us...if we start to become dangerous for the earth, us humans will be wiped out far before. if its going to happen anyway, why not enjoy our last few generations on this earth instead of extending it and making it more complicated.

        i just thought of another thing, its less conveniant. unless you build one of those everywhere and that would probably produce even more waste.

        anyways, im starting to sound like i hate your idea and its the worst thing ive ever heard of...i think it is a cool idea, but i just doubt it would work out

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          12 years ago

          There's an ever-growing, swirling mass of plastic/trash twice the size of Texas in the ocean right now (Great Pacific Garbage Patch). Not nearly as much as you think ACTUALLY gets recycled. Plastic's not a hot commodity. Metals, yes. Paper. Anything of cash value. But plastics, not so much. Go to a recycling center and see what they pay for, those are the items that you can be assured are getting recycled, and probably not much else.

          Have you ever seen a soda gun, like at a bar? It is a nozzle that has selections on it, make your choice and press the button and here comes your whatever. The soda itself is stored in a cylinder the size of a large fire extinguisher. It's tapped, and the lines from all the cylinders converge into the nozzle. Or even a soda fountain, fucking McDonalds has a soda fountain where you just put the cup on it, press the button for the size of the cup, and the cup gets (almost) filled automatically.

          The store would not be a self-service place. The vending idea for the laundromat would be a self-service station. They already sell individual packs of detergents in the laundry, this was just an idea to make more money and less waste, same product, different vehicle.

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          • lisac1919
            12 years ago

            yeah that makes sense actually. i totally forgot about those soda things at mcdonalds or whatever! i guess i just couldnt imagine it. yeah why not

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  • VikingWolf
    12 years ago

    Your idea is one that is worth looking into. You might need to study it a bit more though. There are obvious issues with the hoses or other dispensing mechanisms for the powder detergent. You might need to make a bucket wheel or bucket chain (or conveyor belt of buckets or cups to scoop up and dispense the powder. All the internals in direct contact with the detergent will have to be made of materials which resist corrosion as well.

    The only trouble I can see, and it is a big problem, is that you will need to sell this idea to the manufacturers of detergent and to grocery stores, bulk grocery/ warehouse stores and to laundromats.

    Like the idea of hydrogen powered cars, and using hydrogen to power them, the existing infrastructure (no hydrogen gas pumps) / or in your case, no detergent bottle filling stations have been used or tried.

    Currently, bottles and packaging which is made is made for such a cheap price it will be an uphill battle.

    Your best bet is to find a friend with a store, or find a store whose owners are committed to ecological consciousness and ask him or her if they would be willing to use your device.

    The next phase is getting it to work properly. You can build a dozen models in your garage and use it around your house but when it comes to making it work for other people it is another story. It will have to be simple, quite a lasting gimmick, and novel to the people who use it to grab their attention. You will have to put it in the store, see how it works, tweak it when you need to to perfect it (Prototype testing), make another based upon the improvements to the prototype and then use it in place of the original (Beta-testing.) The beta model will probably have a few kinks to work out then you can make the final model or models. Then use a huge PR campaign to sell this idea to the shoppers of the store. Attitudes of the shoppers will be the motivating factor for this machine.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      12 years ago

      Thanks for your post.

      You know, I like to come up with ideas, solutions and inventions but I honestly have little interest in actually MAKING the crap or being in business stuck doing it for the rest of my life. I like to think on all kinds of different subjects, all kinds of problem-solving....anything from environmental things to advertising to mechanical to decorating to whatever....just EVERYTHING. I'd be terribly unhappy strapped to one single type of business, even if I was making a shit-ton of money.

      I don't even want to make a lot of money, I'd rather help people solve problems and help the environment and make enough to get by, I would only want my work to serve people well.

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      • GoraIntoDesiGals
        12 years ago

        Wow I'm the opposite. Zero creativity but I dream to create a startup.
        I know web technologies such as php/mysql/Ajax/HTML/CSS etc but never truly
        have ideas that could appeal to the masses. I know it's simple ideas like iin or fb that work best but once it exists it's often too late and I never come up with good stuff. Got any idea for an online company?
        It can be complex as I'm not talking about a blog or a homepage lol.

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          12 years ago

          Actually I have a few ideas for websites....let me look over my book and see what we've got. It's funny because I was thinking I wish I could do the website ideas first to make money for the other stuff, cuz I thought it would be easier and less costly, don't have to search for patents and so on...

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          • GoraIntoDesiGals
            12 years ago

            Cool I have some similar concerns where I want to create a brick and mortar business but need money from a company I could create online without much money first.

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            • Anonymous Post Author
              12 years ago

              Can you do me a favor? I have NO clue how websites work, really. Can you just briefly describe to me how this works? I'm just asking to know if my ideas are actually feasable or not, I'm sure maybe a couple are but I'm just so ignorant of how sites work that I'm not sure.

              You'd go from having a concept, to naming/buying the domain (I'm clueless about domains too, all I know is you buy it if it's available....right?), then constructing the site, then what? Is the money all from ads (like on a social site)? I'm lost beyond the concept, name and having someone build the site.

              Thanks!

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      • joybird
        12 years ago

        Watched your video and I think you're cool.

        There must be a way that you can register (or patent) your idea with a lawyer and then contact the companies involved and suggest it to them, then get paid by them for it!!

        Like yourself I've had loads of ideas and only now 20 years later do I see them implemented by the companies through advertising on TV.

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          12 years ago

          Oh god, please tell me you watched the poop tube one and not the other one. I hate the other one now. I deleted it. I like the poop tube one.

          Yeah, it costs so much money to do that crap, it just seems completely out of reach for me (right now anyway). I'd like to be a consultant of sorts. I just don't know how to start. The only thing I thought of was offering my services free of charge, just to build a portfolio, but I don't know if I'd need to be lawyered up or insured or what, would I have any liability(??)..... That or somehow, someway break into some kind of related work.

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      • VikingWolf
        12 years ago

        I would love to build a lot of the ideas I have come up with. I haven't got access to a warehouse (or garage) or the tools parts and components necessary to build anything like i suggested here.

        There is a really neat program I have seen on Direct TV which sprang to mind when I was describing parts of this detergent dispenser. The Program is called "Sliced." A guy basically takes saws and all sorts of other cutting tools and cuts up most modern machines, vending machines and so forth and explains how they work.

        In Europe and Canada there are all kinds of vending machines which do this that and the other. One I saw on Sliced was a pizza maker. You select all you want and this machine puts it together and bakes it all in about 10 minutes. What I mean by this, is that it is possible to make a detergent dispenser. Someone has made a pizza maker vending machine. I think it can be made.

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          12 years ago

          If I did make it, I'd go simpler. We used to get commercial chlorine in a drum for business purposes and it had a real simple pump and hose mechanism, I'd probably just go with something like that, just a simple manual operation. It would be rather simple to make the device take the money and allow the user to get one pump out of it, then the pump handle locks back into place for the next paying customer.

          The powder thing might be more trouble than it's worth, honestly. even if the device was well made, there's still the constant threat of it getting moisture in it and clogging/ruining the product. So....eh, not sure....

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  • Katywompus
    12 years ago

    I think its a pretty good idea. I'd like to see you on youtube :p where u at??

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  • Anonymous Post Author
    12 years ago

    Damn this must be a better idea than I thought. Would you like to see me on youtube? I'm just singng a silly song. But you can se my face. So, ha, then you'd know what I look like with no make-up at all.

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  • joybird
    12 years ago

    We had these stores in the UK but they faded out - though they focused on food like cornflakes, porridge, nuts, dried foods, etc. The cost of making the plastic bottles is insignificant so there would have to be good discounts on the liquid.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      12 years ago

      Wait, porridge is real? And people STILL eat it?

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      • joybird
        12 years ago

        Every day and usually in Scotland.

        It's called porridge oats and is like dry bits in semolina. Flavour with salt or sugar or jam - whichever you prefer!

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          12 years ago

          Hah, awesome. OK grits is a Southern thing in the US, no one else eats them. But what I read, this is comparable to grits. But Northrners eat oatmeal....so is it all the same thing realy, it's all just 'gruel'??lol!!

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          • Angel_in_a_Glass_Dress
            12 years ago

            Grits =/= oatmeal.

            I've had both. The former is corn-based and better with salts or meats. The latter is oat-based and better with sweets and fruit.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      12 years ago

      Yeah, we have bulk food stores here in the US, usually it's health food and spices, it's not attractive to most people and the cost is usually prohibitive.

      I'd thing though with detergents it would be pretty enticing....that stuff is expensive, and a lot of the cost is from packing and shipping it in individual small bottles. I'm also very concerned about the waste.

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      • joybird
        12 years ago

        I think it's an excellent idea regarding the waste!

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          12 years ago

          I had to look it up....so what is it exactly? Like any cooked cereal grain? I saw the wrod 'gruel' and died lol'ing. Whenever my family is annoying me and they ask me what's for dinner, I tell them it's gruel. Gruel just sounds gross.

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