Domestos Packaging with Toxic Contents
Also from the category "Sustainable, but only halfway." Also in the packaging category.
Today we look at bigger players. An international brand. A super brand, actually. Recognized globally for its commitment to the environment, winner of many sustainability awards, cited as a best practice example in sustainable business courses at prestigious universities like Harvard. The Unilever brand.
And I draw your attention to a fast-moving consumer good produced by this brand: a toilet air freshener. The famous Domestos.
A product that, for me, has been causing a headache for some time. I don't understand what value it could have for me, the consumer, that the packaging of this product is made from 100% recycled plastic and recycled cardboard, as long as the product itself is a DANGER. To humans, animals, and the environment.
I quote from the label:
"Harmful to aquatic life with long-lasting effects." - But let's rest assured that it won't contaminate the water, because wastewater treatment plants will handle it?!? As we already know, our wastewater treatment plants can't even cope with expired medicines that end up in the toilet, and because of this, we have a national crisis due to antibiotic resistance. A topic widely discussed here.
"Avoid release to the environment." - But where does our toilet water go? Not into the environment?
"Causes serious eye damage. Causes skin irritation. May cause an allergic reaction." - We can only hope that the water vapor rising every time we flush the toilet carries too small an amount of substance to harm us, right?
"Wear eye protection/face protection." - When? Every time we use the toilet? Or just when installing the product?
It might seem like I've trivialized things a bit. But, in fact, that's what I think the company does with such products it puts on the market. I don't understand why a huge company like Unilever, an international giant, agrees to sell such a product. Marked green, ECOPack. Probably to entice us, those looking for ecological products, to buy it. The problem is that many people don't read the label.
Because if they did, I'm convinced no one would want to buy ECO packaging if the product itself makes them sick. Themselves or those around them.
We no longer want green, ecological packaging if the product itself harms us!
What should we do to make large corporations, who genuinely have the capacity to bring truly sustainable products to market, understand this? We expect change from them. For the simple reason that they can. And because they have the means.
What should we do?
