Elevating Sustainability in Home Care – Reducing environmental footprint of homecare consumer products through performance and circularity

Synopsis

During this lecture, we will present several initiatives taken by Syensqo (formerly part of Solvay group) to improve the environmental impact of homecare consumer goods through actions on origin of raw materials (circularity), usage of products (performance improvements) and product end of life (biodegradability).

On the raw material sourcing side, we will show how application of circularity principles allows to improve the sustainability profile of homecare ingredients not only from the carbon footprint
standpoint, but also on other sustainability aspects such as land use, water usage, etc. Syensqo’s approach is based on upcycling of waste or low-value byproducts from the oleochemical or petrochemical value chain to manufacture homecare ingredients that have the same final specifications and performance than standard products, but with a much lower overall environmental footprint.

On the usage side, we will introduce new data supporting the positive environmental impact of
adding Syensqo’s performance ingredients to laundry detergents. The largest impact of laundry on carbon footprint is in heating water in washing machines. By adding specific polymers to laundry liquid, we show that it is possible to reduce laundry washing temperature down to cold water wash while maintaining an excellent level of stain and odor removal, comparable and in some instances higher than what is obtained at standard 40°C washing temperature without performance additives.

On the end of life side, we will present Syensqo’s biodegradable by design approach wherein new polymers are specifically tailored to bring the performance of fully synthetic non-biodegradable polymers while having structural weaknesses that allow improved biodegradability and non-persistence in the environment. We will discuss application examples in the hard surface care category.