Renewable raw materials for the laundry and home care sector

The global laundry and home care business amounts to 86 billion Euro. In those parts of the market where Henkel is active the company holds a global and European #2 position, in Germany the #1 position, of course. Henkel is widely
recognized as being the leader in sustainability. Leadership in sustainability is based on the holistic approach of “Performance based on Sustainability”. By that
the entire value chain is aligned with the concept of innovative sustainable consumption.
The use of renewable raw materials is one of the pillars within Henkel’s sustainability concept in the laundry and home care business. While on average 20 % of all surfactants used in Western Europe are based on renewable raw materials, namely palm kernel and coconut oil, Henkel’s average amounts to 35%. But using renewable resources is by far not enough since aspects like biodiversity have to be taken into account as well. From its very beginning in 2003 Henkel actively supported the Round Table of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which was formed by stakeholders from NGOs, governmental organizations and the industry to foster the sustainable sourcing of palm oil and palm kernel oil.
For “TERRA Active”, the first sustainable product range in the laundry and home care market, Henkel used as the unique first mover in the industry specified palm kernel oil certificates within the “book and claim” concept of the RSPO.
The presentation will disclose a look into the future development of our industry, too. Again, Henkel sets the pace by introducing a key performance indicator for
sustainable innovations: the Sustainable Consumption Index. As the examples will show this opens new opportunities for bio-based materials.