Challenges in the commercial laundry sector

Within the consumer market, liquid laundry detergent is becoming a popular choice for households with a 50:50 split to washing powder, however, I expect this to continue to increase. In the commercial industry, powder is still hugely outselling liquid with a 70:30 split in favour of powder. This is no reflection on the quality of the products, but in fact due to historic machinery that have dosing systems only capable of accepting powder formats. As these machines slowly come to the end of their lifetime and are replaced with more up-to-date equipment, we will see the shift in the liquid to powder ratio.

Stricter budgets 

Budgets have also played a big part in buyers’ behaviour, particularly within the healthcare sector. Budget constraints are not only affecting the NHS, but the healthcare sector as a whole. As more and more private companies are used to service the NHS, they are increasingly becoming accountable on where the money is spent. And with such stringent regulations, the pressure to balance quality with cost is a challenge. 

These challenges are experienced by both hospitals and care homes which are under an enormous amount of pressure to prevent and control infections within the environment, particularly as diseases can be easily spread from a number of factors including poor hand hygiene and soiled linen. This has led to an increase in products, including laundry detergents, with added anti-bacterial agents to maintain high standards. 

Eco-friendly alternatives

In addition to anti-bacterial properties, care homes, hospitals and businesses are becoming more conscious of their environmental impact, which has even been extended to their cleaning and laundry products. As well as meeting corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies, more eco-friendly products are increasing in demand. While there are many ‘green’ products out there, there is still a worryingly high number of products that continue to use palm oil. 

Palm oil causes major deforestation, habitat loss and is among one of the biggest threats driving wildlife species towards the brink of extinction. Despite its negative impact on the environment, some of the world’s largest cleaning manufacturers and biggest brands insist on using palm oil in their products as it adds viscosity. There are, however, other ingredients such as starch which have been tried and tested that can produce the same quality but without the huge environmental impact. 

As legislation is slowly changing to prevent further damage to the environment, we should start to see some of the key players moving away from the use of palm oil. At SNG Commercial it was important that we developed our products with an eco-friendly alternative to palm oil, while still rivalling the brand leaders on performance. 

There will always be a need for quality cleaning and laundry products and while budgets will remain tight, manufacturers will continue to evolve products to help increase performance and standards. The industry has changed so much in the last 10 years and I look forward to seeing the changes and advancements in the future.