press release
    17th February 2004

BARRIERS TO GREEN BUYING

SAS's sister organisation the Clean Water Initiative (CWI) has recently been awarded £20,000 as part of the Co-operative Bank's 'Safer Chemicals' campaign.

During 2004 CWI will work with the University of Plymouth to investigate barriers to green buying in relation to the purchase of green or environmentally friendly household products.

In the average supermarket there are dozens of products available for cleaning; some specialise in particular aspects of the kitchen or bathroom, some our hands or our hair, some clean clothes or carpets. For each of these types of products there may be 10 or more different brands we can choose from on the shelf and it can be really daunting trying to decide which you wish to buy. Each product bombards us with phrases describing why we should choose that particular one and these (often-meaningless) statements try to persuade us to buy the cheapest or the best or the one which smells nicest etc.

Some products focus on their environmental impact using the lack of potentially toxic chemicals as a selling point. This, of course, means that other products must contain those potentially toxic chemicals but they do not advertise this in large print on the labels. The average shopper has no interest in actually buying the product because it contains toxic compounds but this may be a by-product of the advertised features of the product, which in essence they are willing to accept.

After or during use these products will generally be disposed into the sewerage system with bath water, household sewage and other wastewaters and transported to the sewage treatment works. For most of us that is the end of the story. However, persistent contaminants may not be broken down within a sewage works and these compounds may then be discharged into coastal waters or into the sludge produced by the sewage works. Little is known about the long-term effects of the majority of these products in the wider environment.

This project considers the attitudes of the UK public to such household products, considers why they continue to be purchased and used and why the alternatives, which may exist, represent such a small portion of the total bought.

Look out for an update on the project later in the year.

Clean Water Initiative Registered Charity Number 1027082

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