Laundry Detergents: A Potential Resource of Pollution and Overutilisation

Laundry detergent is one such indispensable commodity that has been used by consumers all over the world. With the introduction of new and advanced laundry detergents, the global laundry detergent market is expected to rise by 4 percent during the years 2022 -2027. The present paper aims to understand consumer laundry behavior at the household level and how detergents can play a major role in the shedding of microfibers and causing pollution to the environment. Results indicated that water hardness plays a major role in the usage of detergents, but most consumers are ignorant about the dosage of laundry detergent and are using twice or more than the amount of detergent required. This is a potential cause of over usage and pollution, and with the usage of more detergents, more water is required to wash off the residue which otherwise causes skin problems to the users. A heavy dosage of powder detergents can increase the shedding of microfibers upto 193 percent when compared to the liquid detergent. Educatingconsumers and bringing our suitable legislation may help mitigate the problem to some extent.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].