Home Care

Important topics in the area of Home Care

FORUM WASCHEN

IKW initiated the FORUM WASCHEN dialog platform in 2001. It brings together experts from public authorities, federal ministries, research institutions, trade unions, manufacturers of washing, dishwashing, and cleaning products, universities, environmental organizations, and consumer and industry associations in Germany.
The platform aims to encourage consumers to adopt sustainable practices related to washing, dishwashing, and cleaning in the household. Learn more (in German language)

36 actors
The social groups involved represent all three aspects of sustainability (social, ecological and economic).
Environment Week in the garden of Bellevue Palace
The Federal President and the German Federal Environmental Foundation have invited FORUM WASCHEN to exhibit at the Environment Week in the gardens of Bellevue Palace in Berlin in 2024.
Multiple awards
From UNESCO and the German Council for Sustainable Development.

"Lots of tips and information on the topic of sustainability: FORUM WASCHEN offers us the opportunity to put the topic of sustainability into practice and make a valuable contribution with documents that are suitable for everyday use. I am personally committed to the goals of FORUM WASCHEN and am delighted with the informational materials. We should disseminate it more widely, e.g. translate it into other languages. This would raise awareness among many more people and encourage them to get involved."

Christine Singer, Member of the European

Detergents regulation

In April 2023, the European Commission published its proposal for a new regulation on detergents and surfactants. This imposes very labor-intensive, additional requirements on detergent manufacturers (e.g. for the “digital product passport”, DPP) without the European Commission having assessed the costs and benefits. An IKW working group has estimated costs for individual aspects of the DPP for different scenarios. These estimates make it clear that the DPP cannot be introduced in a cost-neutral way.

The new Detergents and Surfactants Regulation will introduce additional regulations for probiotic cleaning agents (“microbial cleaners”), among other things. The new regulation is expected to be published in the second half of 2025. Learn more (in German language)

Classification/labelling/packaging

The amendment to the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (‘CLP’) Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008 was published in the Official Journal of the EU in November 2024 as Regulation (EU) 2024/2865. Learn more (in German language)

New regulations apply to, among other things:

Identification labels
e.g. minimum font size, font and background colour.
Refilling stations
for substances and mixtures classified as hazardous.
Advertising
for mixtures classified as hazardous.

The new regulations are subject to transitional periods of 18 or 24 months and, in some cases, a sell-off period of 24 months.

Quality assessment

IKW recommendations for quality assessment (EQ) are used to test the performance of detergents, care and cleaning products in a practical, reproducible and differentiable manner. The EQs are developed jointly by manufacturers of these products, testing institutes, manufacturers of ingredients and, in some cases, manufacturers of the surfaces to be cleaned. The EQs are available both in the original German-language version and in English translation. IKW working groups are currently updating the EQ for hand dishwashing detergents and developing the EQ for heavy-duty and colour detergents. Learn more (in German language)

19 Veröffentlichungen des IKW
Insgesamt liegen bisher 19 Empfehlungen zur Qualitätsbewertung für unterschiedliche Produktgruppen und drei Empfehlungen des IKW zur Materialverträglichkeit vor.

An IKW working group is currently developing new EQs for heavy-duty / all-purpose detergents, colour / coloured detergents and mild detergents that take current consumer needs and behaviour into account.

Ethanol

Ethanol is very important as a solvent in detergents and cleaning agents and as an active ingredient in disinfectants. Ethanol is used as a safe ingredient in these areas of application. Due to the effects of ingesting excessive quantities of alcoholic beverages, European chemicals legislation is discussing the classification of ethanol as carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic to reproduction (CMR, category 1). The resulting ban on safe use would not help anyone, but would cause enormous costs. Learn more (in German language)

Ethanol is versatile, biodegradable and can be obtained from plant-based raw materials. It is safe for humans in cleaning agents and disinfectants as denaturation protects against misuse.