Green Detergents Clean Up As Environmentally Friendly Consumer Products

In the article, assistant managing editor Michael McCoy describes how the cleaning products industry has embraced sustainability, with a variety of innovations. One, for instance, is an energy-efficient laundry detergent that cleans without hot water. Others are laundry detergents that cause less water pollution after they go down the drain.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has been a major catalyst in the green detergent revolution, the article states. Using its purchasing power as the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart launched an environmental initiative last October to encourage its suppliers to manufacture more environmentally friendly laundry detergents.

Laws and regulations in the United States and the European Union are giving industry additional regulatory incentive to go green with mainstream consumer products, the article adds.

A companion story describes developments in getting detergents to deliver perfume to the laundry -- including approaches that adapt leading edge drug delivery technologies for transferring fragrances and other cleaning ingredients to laundry targets that include shirts, pants, sheets and underwear.