Home Care Topics
The Home Care department within IKW provides competent answers to questions concerning hygiene, washing and cleaning.
Information for manufacturers
IKW Recommendation for the Quality Assessment of the Product Performance of All-Purpose Cleaners (2014)
The update of the IKW Recommendation for the Quality Assessment of the Product Performance of All-Purpose Cleaners (first issued in 2004) was finalised in 2014.
IKW member companies make available their expert knowledge of the products they manufacture. This is done in the form of quality assessment recommendations. These want to enable a qualified testing of the respective products by the companies themselves or test institutes.
All-purpose cleaners – beside hand dishwashing products and sanitary cleaners for bathrooms and toilets – are the most frequently used cleaning products in private households. All-purpose cleaners are preparations consisting of various surfactant mixtures, water-soluble solvents and complexing agents. They also contain additives, such as perfumes and colorants, as well as preservatives. Formulations are offered as standard products and/or concentrates. Usually, these are neutral to alkaline formulations. The IKW Recommendation for the Quality Assessment of the Product Performance of All-Purpose Cleaners (2014) refers to such products. The method is not suitable for strong grease removers.
It is worth noting that some test standards (e.g. Commission Decision 2011/373/EU on establishing the ecological criteria for the award of the EU Ecolabel to all-purpose cleaners and sanitary cleaners) refer to the older recommendation for all-purpose cleaners dating back to 2004.
Both versions of the IKW Recommendation for the Quality Assessment of the Product Performance of All-Purpose Cleaners can be downloaded as pdf.files: