When it comes to the environment, packaging is something you cannot live without. The containers your detergents and cleaning products come in are as essential as the products themselves.
Why? Because they prevent the product from being spoilt by the environment, and vice versa. They provide a way of identifying what is inside (try telling detergents apart without the package). And packaging labels carry vital information such as ingredient lists, safety and dosage advice.
Right now, the amount of packaging is increasing in Europe for a variety of reasons, such as the trend towards smaller household sizes.
More households equals more packages, and in France, for example, the number of single-person households has grown by 130 per cent between 1970 and 2000, compared to an average population growth rate of 20 per cent.
In Great Britain, meanwhile, 40 per cent of households are expected to be single occupancy by 2010.
With packaging here to stay, and on the rise, there is an ever-greater need to make sure it is produced, reused, recycled and disposed of in a way that minimises the impact on the environment.
Read on to find out how packaging affects the environment, what P&G is doing to address this and what you can do to help.