Procter & Gamble to eliminate phosphates from dishwasher tablets globally

Consumer goods firm Procter & Gamble has announced a new innovation which will end phosphate use from all retail and professional Fairy dishwasher tablets by 2017, significantly reducing the environmental footprint of its products in addition to improving cleaning performance.


P&Gs’ breakthrough advancement will end the need for consumers to pre-rinse dishes, which has the potential to save 21bn litres of water annually. According to the company, more than 4,500 tonnes of phosphates will be saved in the UK alone, while Fairy users choosing not to pre-rinse dishes could make a total water savings of 820m litres.

P&G global home care President George Tsourapas said: “We’ve invested in breakthrough innovation to ensure we are able to improve Fairy’s ability to cut through tough food 1st time while removing phosphates from our formula. For us, actions speak louder than words in the area of sustainability. This is why we have gone beyond regulation in our removal of phosphates, and that innovative action is just the start.

“Our consumers can join us on the journey; by packing more cleaning power into Fairy’s dishwasher tablets there is no need to pre-rinse. I’m proud we have been able to make it easier for everyone to conserve precious resources without compromising on Fairy’s cleaning ability.”

Climate Savers

Removing phosphates from Fairy dishwasher tablets is the latest action to further P&G’s environmental credentials.

Late last year – the company behind Charmin, Febreze and Gillette among others – announced two ambitious new sustainability targets for 2020; cutting emissions by 30% and providing 15bn litres of clean drinking water by 2020. As part of the pledge, P&G joined the Climate Savers Program, an initiative sponsored by WWF to enable leadership companies to collaborate and accelerate their efforts to address climate change.

In the same week, P&G announced a separate initiative to provide 15bn litres of clean drinking by 2020, in order to reduce illness caused by contaminated water in developing countries. Last summer, P&G announced a ‘packaging overhaul’, which will see 230 million of the consumer goods giant’s flagship bottles packaged out of recycled plastic each year.

P&G’s global sustainability brand director Virginie Helias will be featuring in edie’s Sustainable Business podcast skills special next week. To make sure you don’t miss the next episode of the podcast, bookmark this page, where a new episode will appear every Friday.

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