an investigation of domestic laundry in europe - habits ... - SIFO

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108An investigation into the domestic laundry habits in Europetext. Using stronger detergents can be considered a solution to these problems.Several institutions monitor the cleaning properties of changing launderingpractices. Consumer bodies assess and publish the efficacy of cleaning productssuch as textile detergents on a more or less regular basis. These publicationsare popular reading and show that given the right circumstances, consumerswant information regarding laundry.Investigations show that in spite of modern machines and the many appliancesthat have been developed just to save time for the person in charge of the domesticlaundry, and in spite of the availability of more effective detergents,more time may be spent on “washing processes” today than previously. Oneexplanation for this could be that more and more clothes are designed thatneed special care – and some are even impossible to wash. Even though thereare no empirical data to verify this, it seems as though there is little awarenessof the inadequacies of washing instructions and that other aspects of the garmentsare of greater interest to the consumer. Combined with an extensive useof “under-labelling” (i.e. the label indicates that the textile is to be washed at30°C, when it could be laundered at 40°C or 60°C), this results in more timebeing spent doing laundry. It should be taken into consideration in this contextthat it is difficult for the consumer to become oriented when faced with differentrecommendations. If something goes wrong during the washing process,having used other temperatures than those indicated on the wash label couldentail great difficulties when it comes to claims. The solution chosen is oftento wash at a lower temperature when in doubt.Washing practices in the real life situation differ from laboratory conditions aswell as from household to household and country to country. Therefore itshould be emphasized that the previous laboratory research and theoreticalassumptions cannot give a reliable insight into the total hygienic level oflaundering in the real life situation nor of the national variation within Europe.Summarising, the measures that have been introduced to reduce the environmentalimpact of household laundering are likely to have an adverse effect onthe conditions for appropriate hygiene.
Environmental protection, consumer interests and safety 1095.3 Guidelines for standardisation bodiesAn important function during the laundry process is the rinse performance.Since this is related to both the allergenic effects and the hygienic quality, aninitiative is needed to investigate this issue in the standardisation bodies.Many methods have been used to determine rinse performance (or rinse efficiencyas it is also called), but unfortunately none have been proved reproducible.Thus there are no available data defining an acceptable level for rinseperformance, but when tap water is used as a reference we might have aguideline. SIFO (the National Institute for Consumer Research) is representedin the working group appointed by the Nordic Council of Ministers to find areproducible method for the determination of rinse efficiency, but this workhas not yet been completed. For the time being the method described in theinternational standard IEC 60456 will be used. This is especially important forthe committees dealing with washing machines: IEC TC 59 D and Cenelec59D and their subcommittees and maintenance teams.The relationship between standardisation of household washing machines,household textile detergents and labelling of textiles deserves scrutiny in lightof the findings in this project. It is obvious that there are connections here thatshould be given more attention when writing standards. The principle of takinginto account the possibility for a consumer to make mistakes is importantin other parts of standardisation (“foreseeable misuse”). This principle shouldalso be vitalised in the issues of washing textiles. The dosage of detergentsrelated to the hardness of water is another factor that should be given moreattention. The relationship between the dosage given (per kilogram textiles)and how easy is it to determine this when starting a household washing machineis also interesting.The standardisation of environmental impacts is a complex issue. However,this should not prevent the use of continued efforts to find best possible practices,in order to make consumers aware of the implications of their behaviours.Energy labels must continue to contain information on washing results as partof the information to the consumer. For the Nordic Swan and the EU-flower,it is essential that the criteria documents continue to be revised in order to takeinto account new developments.Labelling of textiles in a global perspective is needed because garments todayare produced worldwide. Focus must therefore be kept on the issue of carelabelling. ISO/TC 38 is one committee dealing with this issue, and efforts
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