Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Shoppers are setting their sights on greener whites, with sales of eco laundry products up 40% year-on-year at Waitrose & Partners.
To reflect this trend, the retailer is expanding its eco laundry range with the launch of new products designed to ‘help reduce the environmental impact of our homes’.
Waitrose & Partners claims to be the first UK supermarket chain to stock a product which washes clothes without the need for washing detergent. Free of harsh chemicals, the ecoegg Laundry Egg (£9.99) contains two types of mineral pellets that work together ‘to give optimum cleaning results’ and can be used for up to 70 washes. It will also stock the ecoegg Dryer Egg (£7.99) which reduces tumble drying time and creasing.
Waitrose & Partners says it is also the first UK supermarket to offer a patented washing machine bag which filters out and traps plastic microfibres from synthetic clothes. The Guppy Friend Washing Bag (£30) helps prevent microfibres being released into the water during a washing machine cycle. Synthetic clothes are placed into the specially designed micro-filter material bag, which reduces fibre breakage and traps microfibres – ‘preventing them being released during washing and making their way into rivers and oceans’.
Waitrose & Partners laundry buyer Andrea Watson said: “Our customers are passionate about shopping in a more sustainable way, from wanting less food packaging to being environmentally responsible with household jobs. These new and innovative products offer more choice to help shoppers be cleaner and greener.”
The grocery multiple is testing a series of ideas which have the potential to save thousands of tonnes of unnecessary plastic and packaging at its shop on Botley Road in Oxford. The trial includes a dedicated refillable zone for items from wine to beer and cereals to coffees, as well as refillable cleaning products.
