How R&D Grants Helped A Bed & Breakfast Problem Turn Into A Profitable Eco-Friendly Business
Frances Foster was living at a country property in Cabbage Tree Creek, Victoria for many years when she and her husband decided to start a bed & breakfast. The business went smoothly, with them at times having a dozen guests. After a while, they noticed that the septic tank started to smell terrible. They’d had the tank for many years and had no problems with it before, so they initially bought everything available on the market to remove the offending odour. Nothing worked. They then set about solving the problem themselves and realised that there was a market for a safe and effective septic tank treatment that could be developed into a viable business. That’s when they decided to start Septic Care, an eco-friendly waste management business. After its initial success they started developing additional products and rebranded their business as Biomaster.
The first product they launched was Flush-it®, which reactivates and stops smells in septic tanks. It utilises paper-eating bacteria that break down and decompose waste to get rid of blockages and bad smells. Grease Gone® was their next product – designed for grease traps. This removes over 75% of fat, oil and grease from the grease trap. To accelerate composting of kitchen and garden waste they also developed Compost-it®, turning waste into usable nutritious garden compost in just 30 days.
Eventually, Biomaster also ventured into solving pet waste problems, developing Pet Waste Wizard®. This took them six years of testing and contains bacteria to break down pet waste. The waste then gets turned into fertiliser that adds nutrition to the garden. Another development was Flush-It Traveller®, a toilet treatment for motor homes, caravans, campsites, and portable toilets. It comes in a lightweight sachet that can be easily shipped in large quantities. Biomaster have also designed two garden units – a Three Pot Hanger into which you can plant flowers, herbs or cactus and hang on your fence or in a patio area, and a Hexagonal Patio Unit that has twelve different planting compartments. The latest product the business is developing is a septic-safe Toilet Cleaner. It contains no harmful chemicals or poisons, is safe to use, and isn’t harmful to people or pets. The product contains bacteria that breaks down the paper in pipework so blockages don’t happen. It also cleans the toilet.
Normally Biomaster wouldn’t have been able to take the next steps to develop these products, as this requires investment and time, with high costs of research and development to produce effective products. However, with the help of R&D Tax Incentives, other grants, and Vebiz assistance, they were provided the impetus to grow their business and expand their product lineup. The grants have given the business the drive to develop new products onto the Australian and U.S. markets and now they are also looking at additional international markets like Mexico and Portugal, South Africa and India.
Problems with waste often require heavy usage of chemicals and poisons and Biomaster has found a natural solution to these problems. People used to pump out their septic tanks when they became full and smelly and ended up smelling twice as bad because they’d lost all the Beneficial Bacteria. Now with Biomaster, they have eco-friendly products and non-chemical ways of treating waste in septic tanks, grease traps, drains, drain fields, gardens, pet waste, and travelling. All their products are do-it-yourself, eco-friendly, safe to touch and use. Most are delivered in tiny tea bag size water-soluble sachets containing a premeasured dose for easy use.
Currently, Biomaster is actively looking for distributors for its products. Contact them by calling 1300 657 570 or by sending an email to info@biomaster.com.au.
To learn more about the Biomaster products, you can visit their website: www.biomaster.com.au.
