Australians Urged To Clean Smarter In The Home To Save Water, Energy & Money

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EMBARGO: Wednesday 28th October 2009 00:01

Australians Urged to Clean Smarter in the Home to Save Water, Energy & Money

Billions of litres of water to be saved by making simple household changes

Australians are pouring billions of litres of water down the drain unnecessarily each and every year while doing household chores such as washing dishes or cleaning the loo, according to new research released today.

The research, announced to mark the launch of the Our Home Our Planet consumer education program, found that Australians could save over 28 billion litres of water per year, the same as more than 11,000 Olympic swimming pools[i], by making simple changes to their routine cleaning habits.

Campaign spokesperson and 2007 Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year award winner, Arron Wood said that although shocking, the findings are a wake-up call - particularly given that consumer usage and disposal of cleaning products accounts for 70 percent of the total carbon footprint[ii].

"Australians are flushing and pouring billions of litres of water that could be saved if they just made small changes to the way they clean their homes," Arron Wood said.

"If households that hand-wash their dishes used a dishwasher instead, it would save close to 8,000 litres of water in a year - that's one house, one family. If everybody in Australia made the changes outlined in the Our Home Our Planet program just think of the impact[iii]!"

Our Home Our Planet is designed to give simple and practical advice about small steps to cut energy and water use, and save money - steps that collectively will make a real and positive impact on the environment and the family coffers.

Sydney mum-of-two, Teena Vescio, was pleased to learn that that so much energy, water and money could be saved through small changes to such simple everyday tasks.

"Using a dishwasher has always saved me time but I didn't realize how much water and energy it could save as well. I was really surprised," Ms Vesico said.

"I had always used a dishwasher but am looking forward to trying out the other tips under the Our Home Our Planet program. I'm looking forward to saving money on my water and electricity bills too, and of course it's good for the environment - which is great," she said.

The Our Home Our Planet program is funded by Reckitt Benckiser and has six easy-to-follow actions tied to popular brands Finish, Harpic, Napisan, BAM, PineOCleen and Airwick. The tips are now listed on-pack and more information can be found on the Our Home Our Planet website.

"Our Home Our Planet is not a quick fix it is the first step of a committed, long-term initiative to empower and educate our consumers on how to reduce the environmental impact of our products and basic household chores," Reckitt Benckiser Australia Marketing Director, Frederique Hull, said.

This initiative is the next step in Reckitt Benckiser's Carbon 20 program which aims to reduce the Total Carbon Footprint of all Reckitt Benckiser's products by 20 percent by 2020.

Under Carbon 20, both globally and locally, Reckitt Benckiser have made great strides to reduce the impact of their operations and is already ahead of their 20 percent target reducing carbon emissions by 5.75 percent in the 2008 calendar year alone.

"We're a quarter of the way there in achieving our Carbon 20 goal and through Our Home Our Planet we want to partner with the community to make a significant and positive change to the environment," said Ms Hull.

"We're cleaning up our house and we want to inspire Australians to do the same."

For more information log onto www.ourhome-ourplanet.com.au

end

PHOTOCALL OPPORTUNITY

WHEN: Wednesday, 28 October 10am - 11am

WHAT: Overlooking the Sydney Harbour and Opera House, the pool will be filled with over 5000 yellow rubber ducks, representing the water Australian households are unknowingly and unnecessarily wasting when doing simple chores.

TALENT: Sydney mum-of-two, Teena Vescio, with children and environmental spokesperson, Arron Wood will be present for photos

WHERE: Holiday Inn Old Sydney (Rooftop Pool), 55 George Street, Sydney


The Our Home Our Planet Tips and Savings:

Washing dishes

* If Australians stopped pre-rinsing their dishes before using the dishwasher, it would save7.5 litres of water per load and 967.2 litres per year per household.
* If people currently handwashing their dishes convereted to using a dishwasher, they would save 60.9 litres of water per wash and and 7853.7 litres per year.

Killing germs around the house
* Use a disinfectant like PineOCleen to kill germs in the house in cold water instead of hot to save 0.04 kWh of energy per use and 1.04kWh annually.

Cleaning the toilet
* 55 percent of people unnecessarily flush the toilet before cleaning. If pre-flushers stopped this habit it would save 8 litres of water per clean and up to 468 litres of water annually. Toilet cleaners like Harpic and Bam work better when there is no pre-flushing.

Air freshening
* Switching off or unplugging an Airwick unit at night will save 26.28KwH of energy per year.

For more information, interviews or images please contact:
Dawn Barnable, 02 9291 3363, 0434 180 073
Caroline Keeping, 02 9291 3355, 0450 318 791

[i] 47% of households hand-wash instead of using a dishwasher. Reckitt Benckiser research.
number of households 7780193 http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/C18556E730053956CA2575CA001461E1/$File/31010_dec%202008.pdf, pg 36
litres of water in Sydney Harbour - http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/e5cb0b45f4547cc4ca25697500217f47/cc9d340e1feef80bca256e9900810f09!OpenDocument

[ii] Independently verified Reckitt Benckiser research

[iii] Reckitt Benckiser research based on the carbon lifecycle analysis of Reckitt Benckiser products


SOURCE: Edelman