Unilever ups R&D of eco-friendly laundry goods

Unilever Plc, a British consumer goods company, has announced that it will continue to strengthen research and development efforts of more high-end and green laundry products in China to meet growing demand of such products by Chinese consumers.

Sales growth of high-quality and environmentally friendly laundry products in China, one of Unilever's three largest markets globally, has been faster than the average growth rate of overall categories, fueled by a rising number of middle-income consumers who are willing to pay for high-quality and economical home care products.

Unilever said that in the future, it aims to invest 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) of climate and nature fund to support its sustainability goals and develop green products globally.

"We have actively promoted the research of green and low-carbon products. We will further reduce laundry products' dependence on fossil fuels, and integrate the concept of circular economy into product formulations and packaging designs," said Zhang Haitao, general manager of home care business of Unilever North Asia.

"Chinese consumers have shown a higher awareness of pursuing high-quality and green products and they are willing to pay for such products. Enterprises have also continuously made technological innovations of products, fueled by higher demand and policy support," Zhang added.

China aims to peak its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, and the nation's home care industry has continued to improve production standards to align with these goals.

Unilever, which has had a presence in China for 101 years, said it launched four kinds of new cleaning and laundry products this year and all of them adopted low-carbon design and bio-based materials for production.

The company says it will further increase efforts in technological innovation in China.

"From upstream to downstream, we will use green and renewable raw materials. And after the use of laundry products, the packaging materials will get biodegraded and returned to nature, and thus form a closed loop," said Shen Jun, R&D head of home care business at Unilever North Asia.

The scale of China's laundry care market has steadily grown in the past decade. Sales in the sector totaled 75.12 billion yuan ($10.7 billion) last year, growing 32 percent from 57.08 billion yuan in 2014, according to a report by the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute.

The positive trend indicates a growing demand for laundry care products, driven by consumers' improved living standards and higher awareness of cleaning and hygiene. A stable market size also shows that laundry care products have been widely popularized in people's daily lives, with a high penetration rate in the China market, the Qianzhan report said.

"Low-carbon development is a necessary measure to address environmental issues, and also a critical opportunity for enterprises to enhance their competitiveness," said Wang Minyan, chairwoman of the China Cleaning Industry Association, adding that the industry should strengthen cooperation and jointly address the challenges of green transformation.