Sustainability and innovation have become buzzwords with many possible meanings. But to the sector of detergent and cleaning products, sustainable innovation is not a nebulous phrase. It has become a unifying, inspiring and energizing term for researchers, brand managers and opinion leaders. The term is used frequently as we meet research colleagues or business managers around the world but equally well as we review company and industry progress with policymakers and NGOs.
At the recent Cleaning Products Europe 2012 meeting (March 2012, Rome), many thought leaders of the detergent and cleaning products industry came together, not just to share sustainable innovation ideas, but to share the many ideas that will shape the future.
Numerous sustainable innovation applications and case studies were presented in Rome by raw material and technology suppliers, market researchers and analysts, detergent companies and appliance manufacturers. These reviews showed how sustainability thinking and lifecycle principles are built into all phases and activities of the cleaning products sector value chain, starting from raw material sourcing, product manufacturing, transport and distrib ...