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

106An investigation into the domestic laundry habits in Europewhich in turn is likely to reduce their contribution to the degree of chemicaldisinfection in the washing process. The results from the washing efficiencytests in chapter 3 show that there are great variations in the results among thecountries investigated. The traditional Spanish detergent tested has betterwash performance than the compact detergent tested. Greece, on the otherhand, has a compact detergent where the tests show significantly better resultsthan for the traditional detergent. In Spain the traditional detergent is a bestseller and consumers use low temperatures, whereas the Greeks use highertemperatures and detergents are designed to perform best at high temperatures.As the results verify, detergents are more likely to be adjusted to themarket than to considerations of sustainability.At low washing temperatures, bleach systems based on persalts are much lesseffective for soil removal and disinfection. This adverse effect can be compensatedfor substantially by the addition of bleach activators, e.g. tetraacetylethylenediamine(TAED). At low washing temperatures the effect of activatedbleach systems decreases as well. Detergents for coloured articles meantfor washing temperatures of 60°C or less do not contain bleach and will thereforeshow poor properties of disinfection.Finally it should be mentioned that the focus on eco-labels, such as the NordicSwan and the EU-flower, has also contributed to a more sustainable development.The numbers of detergents that are listed as more environmentallyfriendly has increased in recent years. [26].5.2 Consumer interests and safety related to hygieneThe boil wash laundering process, which was used traditionally, showed appropriatecleaning properties combined with excellent hygiene efficacy. Asmentioned in the previous sections, lower wash temperatures result in lowerhygienic quality. Thus it may be assumed that for domestic textile launderingthe measures to reduce energy consumption may have stressed the conditionsfor proper hygiene.Until recently, however, little attention has been paid to the hygienic propertiesof daily modern laundering practices. As clothes hygiene is the majorbenefit of laundering (apart of the removal of visible soil and stains), moreinsight in the hygienic implications of modern laundering practices is neededfor the sake of policy measures on public health and environmental policyissues. In order to reduce household water consumption, different new type of