Kao, led by President and CEO Minoru Nakanishi, promotes ‘Nationwide Cleanliness and Water-saving Initiatives’ in partnership with the Centre for Environmental Education and Communications (CEEC) of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection for the seventh year.
Water restrictions in China
Under the slogan of ‘Save 10,000 litres of water annually per household’, the activity will strive to boost awareness of saving water in China. At present, the country is experiencing a significant social problem due to a lack of water resources.
The Chinese Government policy also strives to raise public awareness of the importance of using less water. Kao Corporation's sustainable initiatives and ethos are in line with this push as it plans to promote ecological activities that can be achieved with consumers.
Kao has been selling water-saving laundry detergents in China, for example, since 2012. Taking place at the end of March each year to coincide with the United Nations World Water Day, the initiative is now in its seventh year.
Encouraging water conservation
Kao held its opening ceremony on 20th March at the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Panel discussions and lectures reviewing Kao’s water efforts over the last six years, exhibition panels discussing the importance of water saving and water resources, and an exhibition of award-winning input from the Kao International Environment Painting Contest for Children took place.
In May 2018, the company will hold events in more than 60 universities in China where students will talk about ideas concerning water conservation. Activity achievements will be published in June 2018.
Following the launch of its laundry detergent in China in 2010, a calculation was made of the water-saving effects of this detergent based on consumer research data. Kao collected this in the urban areas of Beijing and Shanghai. This data revealed that using this detergent in a washing machine in a single rinse can save approximately 10,000 litres of washing water per household per year.
Personal and home care initiatives
On World Water Day on 22nd March, Aditi Vyas, Director, Azafran Innovacion revealed: “Azafran is dedicated to providing people with eco-friendly and sustainable product range. All our product lines are created using nature's purest ingredients that are grown, harvested, extracted and processed at our own facilities to ensure maximum purity.”
Commenting on its latest initiative to support this, Vyas stated: “Keeping up with this commitment we have launched ‘Tropical Breeze’, an eco-friendly liquid laundry detergent. Plant-based and biodegradable ingredients in the detergent help to reduce water pollution."
Looking ahead, Vyas added that Azafran is “committed to come up with more such natural and sustainable products in the coming days”.
As water moves from a commodity to a luxury, brands increase their sustainability efforts with a core focus on saving water.