Health and hygiene

For over a century, the cleaning and maintenance products industry has worked to deliver products that clean and disinfect, helping to deliver health and hygiene and achieve the living standards and life expectancy that most people in Europe enjoy today.

Cleaning for health

In the home, cleaning helps families to stay healthy and avoid germs that can cause colds and flu or other illnesses. 

In hospitals and medical centres, proper hygiene is absolutely critical, preventing infection and the spread of superbugs. It is equally important in food factories, dairies, restaurants and other places where food is handled on a daily basis, to prevent the spread of food-borne illnesses. 
In fact, almost everywhere you go, from schools to sports centres, shops to offices, hotels and restaurants, cleaning and disinfection makes places healthier and more agreeable for people to be and work in. This is confirmed in the findings of consumer resaerch carreid out by the industry on a regular basis
                    

In the home, cleaning helps families to stay healthy and avoid germs that can cause colds and flu or other illnesses. 

In hospitals and medical centres, proper hygiene is absolutely critical, preventing infection and the spread of superbugs. It is equally important in food factories, dairies, restaurants and other places where food is handled on a daily basis, to prevent the spread of food-borne illnesses. 

In fact, almost everywhere you go, from schools to sports centres, shops to offices, hotels and restaurants, cleaning and disinfection makes places healthier and more agreeable for people to be and work in. This is confirmed in the findings of consumer research carried out by the industry on a regular basis. Download the A.I.S.E. consumer survey summary.

          


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Benefits for wellbeing

Cleaning also brings benefits for wellbeing. Think how it feels to come back to a home that looks and smells clean, to have clothes that are fresh and comfortable to wear, or a soft and fluffy towel to wrap up in after a warm bath. Similarly outside the home, clean and hygienic workplaces, schools and hospitals can be reassuring and give people peace of mind.

Today’s cleaning products are also designed to make cleaning easier, quicker and more enjoyable, lightening the load of domestic chores and taking less of our precious time.

Making things better

Since the early days of simple bar soap, the industry has continually innovated to develop products that are effective, easy to use, resource-efficient and safe for people and the environment. 

Cleaning and maintenance products now work better, with more biodegradable and milder ingredients. Concentrated formulas save water, packaging and transport. And the industry as a whole is striving hard to be more sustainable in the way it makes, packages and distributes products, through voluntary initiatives like the Charter for Sustainable Cleaning and Product Resource Efficiency Projects

Because most of the environmental impact of cleaning products happens when they are used, the industry is also active in working with consumers and professional users to help them to clean in a more environmentally-friendly way, for example through the Cleanright portal which provides a number of useful tips or the "I prefer 30°" campaign that encourages people to wash their laundry more often at 30°C.

In some parts of the world, hygiene is still a critical challenge, and lives are lost every day due to unsafe water, poor hygiene and sanitation.

Many European cleaning products manufacturers who operate globally are engaged in developing products that contribute to making it easier and more affordable for people in those parts of the world to practice good health and hygiene habits. 

A.I.S.E. itself works with other international associations on global issues relevant to the industry through its participation in the International Network of Cleaning Product Associations (INCPA) and in international industry meetings. 

To find out more about cleanliness, hygiene and disinfection, the difference between them and how they contribute to a healthy society, please visit the Cleanright website, the reference industry portal for consumers on cleaning and maintenance products in Europe, developed by A.I.S.E.