Eco-conscious consumers are seeking products to effectively clean and disinfect their spaces without creating unnecessary waste in the process. Concentrated solutions allow cleaning formulas to be mixed or diluted by consumers at home. In turn, this reduces the amount of plastic, water, and energy required to produce them. According to Greenmatters.com, cleaning efficacy will still be top of mind. Consumers will expect the concentrates to perform the same, if not better, than classic formulas when it comes to killing germs.

Formats and Packaging

Concentrated formulas are becoming increasingly popular in laundry and home cleaning categories. The concentrate formats range from tablets to powders, pods to liquids. Once added to water, dry or encapsulated formats dissolve with simple agitation while liquid formats are dispensed conveniently via dosing closures that ensure that just the right amount of product is used.

As Seen in:

• Blueland cleaning products are sold as tablet refills in sachets. The consumer fills the reusable bottle with water and drops the tablet in to dissolve and create the cleaning solution.
• Monteir Pilon sells its dish soap powder refills in small sachets that are poured into a reusable elegant glass and silicone bottle.
• Dropps unit-dosed laundry detergent feature water soluble membrane pods. While not an entirely new product format, the secondary packaging is compostable.
• Truman’s hyper-modern line of home cleaning products is sold with an empty PET bottle and concentrate tubes that dispense their contents once the trigger sprayer is threaded on.

Ecommerce and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Friendly

Without the extra water in the formulation, concentrated solutions lend themselves to smaller and lighter packages than standard counterparts. This leads to more efficient and cheaper shipping methods. While most eco-friendly concentrates include a heavier refill container with the initial purchase, this package is a one-time purchase intended to be reused and refilled via a DTC subscription.

Eco-friendly concentrates are intuitive, non-toxic solutions for household cleaning and a simple way to reduce the amount of single-use plastics in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) stream. With these new formats, creative brands are rethinking the entire consumer experience from unboxing to dispensing to refilling. Eco-conscious messaging and intentional material choices will help brands communicate their values and benefits to the consumer.