Water use by consumers

Creating water-efficient products

Using innovative technology, we are creating products that require less water in use.

More water is used in the rinsing than in the cleaning process. To tackle this, our Comfort One Rinse fabric conditioner has been formulated so that much less water is required per wash to rinse the detergent from clothes. Consumer feedback confirms that the product saves water and often money. It also reduces the effort and time needed to do laundry in countries where washing by hand is common.

Consumers use our products in different ways from country to country but we estimate that in Brazil, for example, this formulation helps save up to 100 litres per wash.

Innovations also include Surf Excel Quick Wash in India, which aims to save two buckets of water per wash. This makes a big difference in the dry Southern states of India, where many people spend more money on the water needed for washing than they do on detergents. Washing clothes accounts for almost a quarter of all water use in the states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Based on assumptions about laundry habits, we estimate potential savings in the region of 14 billion litres of water a year. Independent research by the C.P. Ramaswami Trust, an NGO that works on water conservation, has verified this claim.

Affordability

In developing countries, water scarcity is a growing concern. As a result, it is often costly for consumers to purchase water, which has an impact on the affordability of using our products. Our design efforts will increasingly take these broader costs into account.

Consumer communication

Every year, almost a third of households worldwide use Unilever laundry products to do their washing – around 125 billion washes. This adds up to a large water footprint, but also a big opportunity to make a difference.

Unilever supports an industry-led pan-European communications campaign called 'Washright' that uses on-pack advice, an internet site and TV advertising to give consumers information on how to get the laundry results they need with the least environmental impact. The guidelines were developed by the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (AISE).

For many years, as part of our membership of AISE, we have encouraged consumers in Europe to save water and energy by adopting more sustainable laundry habits – using the lowest possible temperature, doing a full load when machine washing and avoiding the pre-wash cycle.

We continue to promote the Save Energy and Water Campaign to promote sustainable machine dishwashing, by including usage advice on our labels.

Cleaner Planet Plan

Our laundry brands' Cleaner Planet Plan is based on the use of efficient, innovative products and the promotion of better laundry habits. (See Climate Change for more).

As part of the Plan, Omo worked in partnership with WWF to run an education campaign in Turkey, a country where water consumption for laundry is 30% higher than the global average. The campaign encouraged consumers to wash fuller loads and avoid pre-washing.

Understanding consumer behaviour is key to success. We use a variety to tools and techniques to enhance our knowledge, such as the use of electronic loggers which we are trialling in washing machines. The loggers help us assess the energy and water impacts of laundry by tracking how long the machine runs, how fast it spins and the temperature and amount of water used. This information will enable us to design more effective communication campaigns as well as plan product design.

Water quality

Our commitment to water sustainability extends to the quality of water once products have been used and disposed of by consumers. This is reviewed by our Safety & Environmental Assurance Centre in line with our policies on ingredients and materials in products.