TORRANCE, Calif. — It can be a little noisy at the testing area at simplehuman — but it’s for good reason.

It’s where CEO and Founder Frank Yang sees his vision of touchless hand sanitizer and soap dispensers come to life.

What You Need To Know

  • simplehuman is donating 3,000 sensor pumps and hand sanitizer to schools across the country

  • The effort is to promote healthy hand hygiene as children return to the classroom

  • According to a recent paper published in the American Journal of Infection Control, hand-washing can reduce the risk of common infections by up to 50% and the need for antibiotics by up to 30%

  • Consumers can nominate schools here

“We’re testing the pump to make sure it can last a long time and 150-thousand cycles", said Yang.

The product’s longevity doesn’t only benefit the masses in a global pandemic, but it will also benefit 3,000 schools nationwide that will receive these dispensers for free.

It’s part of the company’s Clean Hands, Safe Schools initiative, upgrading hand hygiene resources at schools, as kids return to in-person learning.

“This is a tough time for people, kids going back to school and we thought hey, this sensor pump, it’s so useful for kids going to school, because it’s fun, kids love to use it and we know keeping your hands clean is very important, so the easy way to get that into people’s hands is to give it away", said Yang.

According to the American Journal of Infection Control, hand washing can reduce the risk of common infections by up to 50%, so to stay vigilant with hand hygiene, consumers can nominate classrooms in their communities to receive simplehuman’s sensor pumps, soap and sanitizers.  

“We feel pretty excited that this hands-free touch pump we have, is able to be so useful during this time for kids to use to sanitize their hands and make sure that returning to school is very safe", said Yang.

Frank began simplehuman in 2000 with the intention to reinvent tools for efficient living.

A pioneer in the smart home category, he started with the launch of their popular trash cans, which nowadays are even smarter with features like voice activation.

But in 2009, the company evolved into launching their sensor pump line.

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While hands-free was viewed by some as a luxury, it proved valuable in the pandemic, where dispensing sanitizer and washing your hands more often was a necessity.

So simplehuman will keep innovating.

“We’re really deep into technology so we’re thinking of ways to apply it to different functions, but only when it’s useful, but I do feel touch-free tech in terms of infrared sensor and voice recognition is definitely here to stay", said Yang.