Think green when you wash and clean – Unburden the environment
Each year more than 1.3 million tonnes of cleaning agents and laundry detergents are sold to private end users, broken down as follows:
- approx. 630,000 tonnes of laundry detergent
- approx. 220,000 tonnes of fabric softener
- approx. 480,000 tonnes of cleaning agents and care products, of which around 260,000 tonnes are dishwashing products.
Moreover, unknown quantities of cleaning agents used in institutional and industrial applications add to this amount.
From private households alone, some 630,000* tonnes of chemicals stemming from cleaning agents and detergents enter wastewater systems annually, among them:
- surfactants: 198,976 tonnes
- phosphates: 31,860 tonnes
- fragrances: 8,352 tonnes
- enzymes: 4,18
- phosphonates: 3,887 tonne3 tonnes
- optical brighteners: 438 tonnes
- silicones: 379 tonnes.
Cleaning agents and laundrydetergents can also affect human health considerably. While they serve the necessary purpose of hygiene, their use can also introduce harmful substances such as allergenic fragrances and preservatives to indoor rooms. Cleaning agents and laundry detergents are therefore subject to specific legal provisions.
*Reference year: 2008; Source: Sustainability report by the Industrieverband Körperpflege und Waschmittel (IKW) 2009/2010 (www.ikw.org).
