Eliminating coronavirus from stores in seconds with UV light

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A Swedish innovation professor and a business leader in lighting have launched the company Whitebox, with more than ten automatic products for quick cleaning of known infection surfaces in stores using UV light. A solution developed to reduce infections spreading in retail.

 The WHO and other public health institutions have long warned of contact infection from viruses and bacteria lingering on surfaces. During the corona pandemic, retail businesses are searching for new solutions to automatically clean surfaces that many people touch to avoid the spread COVID-19 and other illnesses. The founders behind Whitebox are now launching such a solution.

• The problem is that it takes a lot of time to clean between each customer, and we know that it still isn't enough. Some bacteria and viruses can live for days on surfaces, so there is a risk of infection when you touch things others have touched before. Our products will help solve this with UV light, says professor Joakim Wincent, co-founder of Whitebox.

Wincent and Erik Wikström, former lighting CEO and retail supplier for many years, knew early on that part of the UV light spectrum can be used to kill viruses and bacteria, including COVID-19, in only a few seconds.

• We began to see a solution for how UV light can be used to quickly stop the spread of infection. Of course, this is important for the coronavirus, but our technology can also help stop the spread of the common flu, the stomach flu, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in stores, says Wikström.

The result is a range of products for the retail industry's most problematic high touch contact points, a series of patented solutions, and new technology. UVC light - the part of the UV spectrum that the technology utilizes - can be used to effectively disinfect shopping carts, shopping baskets, payment terminals, customer dividers at checkout and even payment terminals.

• We believe that with our products, disinfection will never be the same. However, this would likely not have happened if we had not been in this devastating situation, Wincent explains.

Alongside of their goal to revolutionize disinfection, the two founders were also motivated by a personal concern many others can most likely relate to.

• We both shop groceries for our parents, who are in a high-risk group, and we have seen the harm the virus can do, says Wikström.

The concept, which is now being launched in stores, means that Sweden's first pure UVC lighting company for retail has been born.

Contact information

Erik Wikström, co-founder
erik@white-box.se
+ 46 70 2746224

Joakim Wincent, co-founder
joakim@ white-box.se 
+ 46 70 6109480

Image texts

Joakim Wincent and Erik Wikström: The co-founders of the company, Joakim Wincent and Erik Wikström, in front of a Whitebox for sanitation of shopping carts in a Swedish grocery store.

Whitebox cart 1 and 2: Whitebox Cart Disinfection Unit eliminates viruses and bacteria from shopping carts in just a few seconds using UV light.

Whitebox scanner 1 and 2: Whitebox Scanner Disinfection Unit eliminates viruses and bacteria from self scanners in just a few seconds using UV light.

Whitebox store overview: Whitebox have developed a complete range of products for fast and continuous disinfection of surfaces in retail stores.

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