Single Use Ain’t Sexy sells to travel brand Buzz for undisclosed sum

Australian dissolvable hand soap startup Single Use Ain’t Sexy has sold to travel amenities company Buzz for an undisclosed sum.

Single Use Ain’t Sexy developed a clever method of delivering hand soap into a pump bottle with minimal extra plastics.

Its product is a dissolvable soap tablet you drop into a reusable glass bottle which foams up when you pump the soap into your hands.

The sale will see Single Use Ain’t Sexy shift its focus to the wholesale travel market with founder and CEO Josh Howard joining the Buzz team in an international role, connecting his innovative product with a global network of travel partners.

“I am motivated by impact and this partnership with Buzz gives us the platform to affect much larger change together,” Howard said.

“The sheer scale of their global operations means we will save more single-use plastic bottles from landfill with just one hotel partnership than we could achieve alone – that excites me.”

Buzz is looking to supply refillable amenities to over 50,000 hotel rooms, including for brands like Hilton, Marriott, and MGM, by the end of 2023 in a bid to rid the world of those tiny single use plastic bottles that have become a standard of hotel stays.

Co-founder Barry Gold said the inclusion of Single Use Ain’t Sexy will help his company reach its goal of making the travel industry more sustainable and waste-free.

“Buzz has always been a proud first mover in the war against waste, so we are delighted to welcome another trailblazer in Single Use Ain’t Sexy to the Buzz family,” Gold said.

“We firmly believe we will be stronger together as we continue revolutionising how the world’s best airlines, hotels, cruise and rail lines replace single-use amenities with refillable alternatives for travellers.

If you’ve been on an Emirates or Jetstar flight recently you may have come across Buzz’s proprietary ecoTHREAD blankets that are made entirely from recycled plastic bottles.

According to Buzz, the blankets have seen over 100 million plastic drinking bottles saved from landfill.

“Creativity and innovation are at the heart of everything we do,” said Buzz co-founder Leonard Hamersfeld.

“We create incredible collaborations with the world’s best brands including Armani, Le Labo, TUMI and Acqua Di Parma.

“Our vision aligns perfectly with the design-led, market first and impact-driven ethos of Single Use Ain’t Sexy and we are thrilled to have them on board.”