Tanki (toilet paper) wins Maritime UK Innovation Award

Tanki, the start-up company behind a novel environmentally safe sanitary paper designed to prevent blockages in sewage treatment plants and toilets, has won the prestigious Maritime UK 2020 Innovation Award.

The award, sponsored by the UK Ship Register, was presented by Dee Caffari MBE.

A panel of judges, chosen to reflect the ‘breadth and expertise’ across all sectors of the UK’s maritime industry, selected Tanki as it ‘demonstrated exceptional true commitment to innovation in solving a particular challenge or the development of a new product or service’.

The challenge Tanki looked to address was to supply a sustainably sourced and produced paper that does not congeal to clog up a vessel’s sewage treatment system or pollute the environment.

Every roll of conventional toilet paper usually contains about 2.7g of lamination adhesive and softening agents that bond the sheets together.

Tanki 2-Ply uses virgin pulp from verified sustainable and actively managed sources and is compliant with MARPOL Annex IV and V. It completely disintegrates when submerged in water. The paper is indistinguishable from luxury high street brands but costs about 50% less per roll.

“We are delighted to have won this award, which I think is reflective of the maritime industry’s commitment to solving environmental problems,” says Simon Haydon, operations director for Tanki. “We were looking to solve an engineering problem and we found the solution: to rip out all the nasty, environmentally damaging components of the seemingly innocuous and ubiquitous toilet roll.”

“A typical 4,000-passenger capacity cruise ship tends to go through about 8,000 rolls a week, discharging 1.5t of adhesives into the ocean environment every year,” says commercial director, Mark Collins. “With the growth in expedition cruising, cruise vessels and yachts could inadvertently pollute MARPOL special areas with nano-plastics and lamination glue. Tanki prevents this.”