Creating sustainable habits through products focused on performance

New Fairy campaigns have set out to inspire consumers to switch to cooler water and shorter dishwasher cycles – a vision with the potential to reduce dishwashing’s carbon footprint in Europe by up to 60% when washing up at the sink with cooler water, and 33% when switching from auto to short dishwasher cycles (up to 64% and 31% in the UK specifically).

In campaigns that utilise multi-marketing platforms and on-pack reminders to consumers to change habits at home, the focus of Fairy’s vision is innovation to ensure households experience a win-win to incentivise a behaviour change.

Fairy’s head of research and development Maria Papadaki said: “We spend a lot of time talking to households across the world to understand what they need from the products they use in their home. When it comes to dishwashing, we know they want to be more sustainable but they ultimately want products that still perform.

“We frequently hear about compensating behaviours that people have taken to balance poor product performance – rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, soaking dishes overnight, washing pots and pans twice. These are wasteful behaviours not just on resources like water and energy but on time and effort for busy families.”

Papadaki stated that Fairy’s latest formulas are designed with a Fast-Activating Cleaning System for faster action in shorter cycles. This, in turn, helps to cut the carbon footprint of dishwashing by reducing the energy used to heat water. By keeping the quality and performance of the product high, Fairy hopes the solution will enable more customers to switch to more sustainable habits.

Fairy is also working with organisations like Energy Saving Trust in the UK to verify the potential reduction in energy when using short cycles and cooler washing up temperatures.

The company continues to innovate across the full life cycle of its products (packaging, manufacturing, production, supply chains). For example, it recently introduced Fairy Max Power Carton Refill.

edie recently travelled to Geneva, where P&G opened up its “Vault”, designed to inform product designs based on consumers trends and preferences, which are increasingly focused on sustainability. Read the in-depth feature here.