Skip to Content
Alumni profile

Tapping into fruit’s natural cleaning power

Peter Wainman ’92
February 27, 2019
Courtest of Peter Wainman ’92

Pineapple packs a healthy dose of vitamin C and has long served as a symbol of welcome. But fermenting the tropical fruit also produces a nontoxic cleaning agent, says Peter Wainman ’92, who harnessed that property to develop what he says is the world’s safest line of cleaning products. His company, Equator Pure Nature, invented a globally patented system to ferment pineapple and make a natural cleaning solution out of the resulting enzymes and acids.

“There’s a traditional method for creating natural cleaning solutions in Asia by putting a plant in a jar, sealing it, and letting the sun ferment it,” says Wainman, a Course 6 alumnus. “We took that idea and, after thousands of experiments, determined which plant was most effective. Then we optimized the process so that the resulting cleaning product is efficient, inexpensive, and aesthetically pleasing.”

Wainman says Equator Pure Nature’s Pipper Standard brand cleans just as well as, if not better than, chemical soap. A market leader among natural cleaning products in Asia, where the demand for natural products is growing, the Bangkok-based company offers 18 products and counting, including detergent, hand soap, and an all-purpose cleaner.

Wainman’s innovation began with an all too common problem—an allergic reaction. After earning a master’s in electrical engineering at Berkeley, he had switched gears to pursue investment banking and VC investing. In 2010, while living in Thailand, he suffered months of agonizing skin reactions and discovered that he had developed an allergy to the chemical residue in his fabric softener. Upon researching remedies, he discovered that there were virtually no natural cleaning solutions being sold in his region.

“About a third of the population [in Asia] now has an allergy of some kind,” he says. “I turned to my wife and said, ‘Let’s just make these ourselves.’” Wainman tapped into the problem-solving spirit and skills in R&D he had honed at MIT, where he worked for Professor Markus Zahn ’67, SM ’68, EE ’69, SCD ’70, in the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems as a UROP.

Since launching in 2014, Equator Pure Nature has established a presence in 16 Asian markets and approximately 1,500 stores. The US and Western markets are on his radar, too. “As individuals, we can’t do much to change the very real problem of air pollution [in Asia],” he says.

“But if we decrease unnecessary chemical exposure, particularly in the home, we may have a positive impact on allergy rates. A healthy environment starts at home.”

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language

A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.