The Impact on Home Care of Water Scarcity: Low Water Products and Appliances

Introduction

Scope

What This Report Series is All About

How this report fits into the overall picture for Water Scarcity

Key findings for low water products and appliances sold today

What this Report Series is all About

Report 2 looks at products and appliances addressing water scarcity

Snapshot of topics in report 2 : “low water products and appliances”

Report 1 focuses on macro aspects creating water scarcity today

A snapshot of topics in report 1: conservation and new sources

A water scarcity spotlight: HydroFinity’s polymer saves 80% water

A water scarcity spotlight: the Cape Town “Day Zero” case study

If you have already examined other reports in the water series…

The wettest place on earth is also one of the most water scarce

Water can be the great peace maker and equaliser

A water treaty (1996) normalised relations between India and Bangladesh

However, water is intrinsically linked to massive levels of inequality

There is a major “water wealth” disparity in types of problem felt

The UN’s development goals are heavily reliant on water equality

Water scarcity by region and the current “hot spots” for shortages

Climate change is increasing the frequency of floods and shortages

We see this in knock-on economic impacts from crises over time

UN precipitation predictions are that scarce regions will get worse

Economically created water scarcity adds to the problem

Water is breaking into the agenda for governments and business

Water scarcity crises are also driving greater public awareness

Abundant water, food and economic progress are inter-connected

Cost of water redistribution remains one of the key barriers

Water is buried inside many of the things we import and wear

Another country’s water is also hidden inside many imported foods

Crazy as it might sound, embedded water is even inside water

Major exporters of products with embedded water are running dry

Water scarcity grows in key food and cotton exporting countries

Water stress increases when embedded exporters cut back supply

UK is looking at 25% of its food supply with extreme cost increases

Water conflict and resource jealousy exists within everyday society

The role of water in economic development and standard of living

Some key statistics: water withdrawn, who is using it, to what end

Conclusions include a water withdrawal link to income and BMI

A sign of trouble is large withdrawal and farms taking 60% or more

Countries withdrawing around 7% or more self-harm on biodiversity

Our understanding of the full embedded water “cost” is improving

New underground scanning technology illuminates aquifer issues

Urbanisation creates contradictions for water scarcity

Cities have better infrastructure but also larger thirstier populations

It would be a mistake to think this will not affect us all eventually

Water drives three psychologies in a person and community

Typical Uses of Water in the Home

If saving water at home, some activities stand out as key targets

Context: normal water use, versus efficient use, versus a crisis

Water savings to be made within home care can vary by region

US: developed market transitioning to water “compromise”

China: emerging market living between “compromise” and “crisis”

UK: water-affluent nation with a complacent “abundance” mindset

South Africa reveals the scale of challenge for Capetonians in 2018

This report is about “compromise”; Cape Town’s spotlight “crisis”

Low Water Laundry Solutions

The laundry water “footprint” and where it is being deployed

Where the water savings are to be found in the laundry process

Almost 80% of laundry water use is in rinsing action

A “stand out” realisation needed is the embedded water in clothing

The altruistic requirement: this saving typically benefits “others”

A side comment before the detail; washer dryers can waste water

Low Water Laundry Solutions: Embedded Water in Apparel

The coming cotton crisis: an early fibre casualty of water scarcity

A drop in cotton use is a good thing overall for water and ecology

This does have major implications for laundry wash performance

Portion saved of total deployed water by doubling the life of a t-shirt

For context of scale of impact in water-saving laundry solutions

The law of unintended consequences strikes again

The extreme edge of the fabric story is “don’t wash me” denim

Low Water Laundry Solutions: Escaping Handwashing (Automation)

The big local water saving in laundry is from appliance penetration

At top-line, possession has been increasing but is now plateauing

Not all washing machines are equally helpful at saving water

Income hierarchy and a related progression of laundry technology

Emerging business models can push appliance use penetration

Services: out-of-home doorstep laundry continues to spread

Subsidised: the economics leading to additive subscription models

Subsidised: this gets over the initial up-front cost for the appliance

Miele experiment with “Blue Horizon” and merged revenue streams

Shared economy: more smartphones than washing machines

Shared economy: with a focus on developed markets

Shared economy: this is more interesting as a C2C platform

Shared economy: picking up and dropping off is a security concern

Shared economy: driving additive brands into selling appliances?

Communal laundry: accelerating the movement into automation

These efforts include Procter & Gamble’s wash house project

Unilever’s community hygiene centre and laundry services in India

Low Water Laundry Solutions: One Wash and One Rinse Solutions

The water-saving benefits of only washing once

Boosting results where we cannot take “one wash” for granted

The black market and protecting “one wash” performance reputations

Particularly in handwashing, a “one rinse” claim saves a lot of water

Foam dispersant is a stand-alone item or integrated into additives

Sunlight SmartFoam has a prominent “half the water” rinsing story

There are solutions both for appliance washing and handwashing

Appliance brands are also making use of polymers for “one rinse”

Low Water Laundry Solutions: Bigger is Better

Water is a long-term topic in appliance research and development

Super capacity washing appliances are more water efficient

This “bigger is better” falls over if bringing in top loaders

Top loaders can be bigger, yes, but they are also far more thirsty

Low Water Laundry Solutions: Refreshing Instead of Washing

Washing too often leads to shrinkage and garment shape changes

A fast way to turn favourites into rags is bleach over-exposure

If “refreshing” avoids one in five washes, 20% of all resources are saved

Refresh appliances try to do a “good enough” job to wear it again

Tersa Steam: a “naturals” wall-mounted upgrade versus Swash

Tersa Steam: we are sceptical but hope to be proven wrong

Fabric fresheners and scent boosters point to a rising refresh appeal

Trust is an issue; critical thresholds all solutions need to exceed

Low Water Dishwashing

The dishwashing water “footprint” and where it is being deployed

Water savings focus on avoiding rewash and appliance penetration

Dishwashers struggle to penetrate regions in need of water savings

Avoiding the need to rewash and the impact of losing phosphates

Incremental gains from competition between appliance brands

Recycling rinse water: genius or unacceptably gross…or is it both?

Low Water Toilet Care

The toilet water “footprint” and where it is being deployed

Water savings focus on modern toilets (including dual flush)

Dual flush saves about 30% of the water used in toilets

After removing gravity differentials we previously added more water

Formats with larger height difference tend to be water efficient

Toilet care is focused today on rising sales from liquids/foams

Small-scale issues from low water toilets (in the home)

Larger issues from low water toilets (trying to get outside the home)

There are crisis products geared around a change in toilet habits

Conclusions for This Report

The focus is on “compromise”, but there is a duty to also help “crisis”

We need to get better at reacting to water psychology shifts

Better data declarations are going to be a standard on packaging

Water use in the home - averages across the world

Water saving in the toilet care category (36% of use)

Toilets need to be available to all; but they also need to be efficient

Water saving in the laundry category (21% of use)

Innovation teams need to keep working on making “refresh” viable

Water saving in the dishwashing category (7% of use)

A spotlight report in this series examines the psychology of “crisis”

A spotlight report in this series examines HydroFinity (formerly Xeros )

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