Performance Unilever
Greener wash W
Together the laundry industry and consumers can make a huge difference in reducing the impact that the washing of clothes has on the environment across the globe. Keith Rutherford explains how
e all have to do the laundry and across the world we all do it dif- ferently with methods passed down the family and old habits being hard to change. But giving brilliant results, while also reducing the impact that washing clothes has on the environment is an enduring goal for us at Unilever.
It is now well known that, especially in developed markets, most of the environmen- tal impact caused by laundry occurs after the product is purchased and taken home. And with over seven million people washing their laundry with Unilever products every half an hour even small changes in consumer routines can help to make a difference. Some behaviour is already changing quite significantly. Over the past decade there has been a noticeable rise in consumer recycling and awareness of recyclable product packaging yet this is often not where most of the environmental imprint lies. Slowly but surely focus is broadening to other activities that consume energy or natural resources and that have a negative impact on both the environment and our wallets. One of the biggest drivers of greenhouse
gases in laundry for the UK is the tempera- ture used to wash clothes. With over 90% of households in the UK owning a fully auto- matic washing machine that heats water, the overall environmental impact can be reduced with relatively small changes made by a lot of people. Over the past six years, UK con- sumers have started to recognise the benefits of simple actions such as turning down the temperature of a wash and using eco-wash cycles; 30% of households now adopt these practices regularly. Much of this has been driven by the laundry industry, joining forces to influence change. Innovations have led to providing consumers with products that ensure great washing results, but at a lower temperature. The need to couple changing habits with products that provide equal or improved results is vital within the consumer change process.
Across the laundry industry, reducing the amount of packaging and minimising residues
30 | Sustainable Business | October 2010 Concentrated liquids have reduced the requirement for materials and transport
left in bottles also plays a role in reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfill. The introduction of concentrated liquids has reduced the requirement for materials and transport. Unilever led the introduction of concentrated laundry liquids and in Europe has already saved enough plastic to make the equivalent of 590M plastic bags.
Concentrates require less packaging,
UK consumers have started to recognise the benefits of simple actions such as turning down the temperature of a wash
reduced transport and are easier to use. If everyone doing a wash used compact wash- ing powders or concentrated liquids instead of traditional washing powders, it would save the same amount of CO2 as removing a mil- lion cars globally from our roads. A key area for the future of laundry is in reducing the amount of water required to wash especially in countries that suffer from scarcity. Our work in India has illustrated this point where the education of millions of
consumers has made a real contribution to the preservation of water. With our under- standing of the local laundry processes, we introduced products to the Indian market that required less water and less rinsing. Surf Excel Quick Rinse was developed to produce less lather, helping to preserve water used to rinse clothes. A government organisa- tion in India estimated that the product saves 14B litres of water a year, a result achieved through a better understanding of consumer needs and the benefit to the environment that could be reached through their actions. Simply telling people that they have to change their routine to benefit the environ- ment has limited impact, but helping people to save effort, time and money through small changes in routines makes the overall goal more achievable. Sustainability is fundamen- tally about achieving more with less and if we help millions of people every day then the small changes begin to add up to a big effect.
Dr Keith Rutherford is global programme director for sustainability and operational excellence at Unilever, which is a member of the Prince’s Mayday Network
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