If you want to save packaging while cleaning or doing your wash, the best advice is to use less detergent.

P&G products will go further, so you will not need to replace them as frequently and you will be cutting down the number of packs or bottles that you are throwing away or recycling. Some rules of thumb to achieve this are:

• Use high-quality detergent and cleaning brands. They are more efficient at washing and cleaning and will last much longer, making them more cost-effective in the long run.
• Pick compact detergents, refill pouches, tablets or liquitabs instead of big-box products. They will all provide roughly the same number of doses and it is fairly clear that the products in smaller packages involve less packaging.
• Always look at the pictogram which shows the number of doses in each pack; this is an easy way to find out how many wash loads you can do with different detergent brands.
• Get information on the waste collection schemes in your region and find out how you can take part in them.
• When you buy refill pouches for your powder or liquid detergent, you can give your bottle or cardboard detergent pack a longer lifetime and will not need to throw it away when it is empty.
• Use the correct dosage for the amount of washing you are doing, the level of soiling and the water hardness. Remember that many detergents now clean very well at lower temperature and that overdosing will not generally improve the results.
• Fill the machine correctly. Modern, low water fill washing machines are designed to use less water, so if you own one you should be particularly careful not to over fill it.
• Make sure you adjust the dose to the level of soiling, water hardness and drum size.
• Follow fabric care symbols so that you get optimum results every time and do not have to throw badly-washed items back into the washing machine.
• Look after your washing machine and give it a regular service wash. This is a hot wash with no clothes in the machine, (60 degrees or more) with an oxygen bleach-containing detergent such as Ariel powder detergents (Ariel Biological Powder in UK). This avoids the build up of soil in your machine which over time could cause malodours due to the growth of bacteria.
• For dishwashers, pre-treat burnt or baked-on food with Fairy Power Spray and do not stack cups inside each other.
• Check packaging symbols to make sure you recycle or dispose of packages correctly.

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