Low-Cost and Eco-Friendly Dishwashing Liquid to Improve the Economy of Society Affected by the Pandemic COVID-19: A Community Development

Abstract

The fabrication of dishwashing liquid has been performed using low-cost and eco-friendly materials for teachers at one informal school, the Syiar Quran Center (SQC), in a small village in Pekanbaru, Indonesia. The materials were sodium laureth sulfate, coarse salt, distilled water, dark green dye, and lime extract. This activity was a university-community collaboration program to support the SQC in forming a business unit to assist school operations. This study carried out the method through action research involving an SQC manager and six teachers in SQC. The results of laboratory analysis show that dishwashing liquid in this study has met the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) 4075-2: 2017 for a dishwashing liquid with pH value, total surfactant (% weight fraction), and total plate count microbial contamination (colony mL^-1) are as follows: 7.2, 10, and < 10. Organoleptic tests that evaluated aroma, appearance, foam, the ability to lift dirt, skin irritation, and price were conducted to 50 panelists. The results showed that the dishwashing liquid had got satisfied scores from panelists. The dishwashing liquid with low-cost and eco-friendly materials is highly prospective for mass sale after calculating the capital spent to produce and comparing it with similar products on the market.