Umweltbundesamt
Click to enlargeCleaning agents and laundry detergents are used every day in private households and in the institutional and industrial sectors. Since they are omnipresent, the hazards their use poses for the environment and human health are often underestimated. As matter of fact, the use of cleaning agents and laundry detergents contributes substantially to the chemical pollution of wastewater.
Each year more than 1.3 million tonnes of cleaning agents and laundry detergents are sold to private end users, broken down as follows:
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:
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).
Using optimal wash cycle settings and detergent dosages saves energy. This eases not only the burden on the environment, but also on household budgets since expenses for electricity can be reduced perceptibly. Often higher temperatures than necessary are used for laundering. Simply reducing the washing temperature from 40 °C to 30 °C saves over 35 per cent of power per wash cycle. Sustainable home laundering really pays off.
The UBA’s motto, For our environment (“Für Mensch und Umwelt”), sums up our mission pretty well, we feel. In this video we give an insight into our work.
