Cross-Industry Collaborations Turning the Tide on Cold-Water Washing | Sustainable Brands (2024)

Tide partnerships with everyone from appliance manufacturers and retailers toNASA and the International Space Station are helping us reduce the impact ofcleaning our clothes.

As one of the largest and most recognizable names in the laundry aisle,Tide can use its scale to empower consumers to cleantheir clothes better — and more efficiently — in every sense of the word.

According to Tide, 40 million homes use its detergents — which means 40 millionopportunities to help consumers make an informed transition to washing laundryin cold water as opposed to warm or hot water, which Tide and parent companyProcter & Gamble (P&G) have researched in greatdetail.

The companies have found that a particularly meaningful way to educate consumersis through various channels of collaboration.

In 2022, Tide and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) worked with behavioralscience consultancy Behavioral InsightsTeam(BIT) on a comprehensive review of existing published research and casestudies on sustainable habits — including relevant consumer tests from P&G andbest practices in climate change impact from WWF. The goal was to understandcurrent impacts of consumer laundry habits, and the behavioral changes requiredto make a sizable dent in the environmental impact of household laundry.

“We’ve seen how small actions can add up to big impact, especially whenaddressing the use phase,” MartySpitzer, senior director of climateand renewable energy at World Wildlife Fund, told Sustainable Brands®.“Sharing these research findings and the related cold-water case study willprovide useful insights and guidance for all brands and consumers taking on thebehavior-change journey.”

Through Tide’s own research, the company found that shifting consumer habits tocold water washing is the single most effective way to reduce the environmentalimpact of the chore without sacrificing clothing cleanliness or quality. That’sbecause a significant portion of the carbon footprint of a load of laundry isthe use phase, largely driven by heating of water. Tide claims that a decade ofNorth American consumers washing the majority (3 in 4) of their loads in coldwater would save enough electricity to power all of New York City and SanFrancisco for over a year[1], or the equivalent of 27 million metric tons(MT) of GHG emissions.

However, the joint behavior change study found that there were a number ofexisting barriers standing in the way of those potential savings. Chief amongthem — a lack of education on the environmental impacts, awareness of solutionsavailable and generally shifting long-established consumer habits andassumptions (like washing in warm/hot as the only means for sufficientcleaning).

“When Tide set a goal for three out of four washes to be done on cold by 2030,we knew we’d need partners to help us drive the change,” said ToddCline, Senior Director ofSustainability, North America Fabric Care at P&G. “Within the first year ofsetting our cold-water ambition, we advanced a quarter of the way toward ourgoal — a promising signal that consumers were interested in making this shift.”

Collaborating to move the needle

Using findings from its collaboration with WWF andBITand BIT’s EAST (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely)framework,Tide began working at each of these pressure points to help consumers make theswitch to predominantly cold-washing:

• Easy: Tide began working with machine manufacturers — includingElectrolux, GE Appliances and Samsung — to make cold wash aneasier choice (or, even better, a default setting), including a partnershipto launch the first Tide Cold Certified washing machines, which have afeature on them that Tide scientists have tested to deliver a better cleanin cold with Tide compared to washing in cold without using the ColdFeature.

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• Attractive: Consumers are incredibly driven by potential cash savings,so Tide launched a campaign highlighting how washing in cold (with Tide) cansave people $150 a year on energy bills[2].

• Social: Connecting laundry to accepted social norms is a big bridge, andTide launched a campaign with theNFLin which 16 teams washed one million pounds of filthy NFL laundry a year incold water — the idea being that, if Tide and cold washes can meet the needsof the NFL, it’s more than suitable for everyday laundry.

• Timely: Tide created more opportunities for collaboration and connection— such as a partnership with HanesBrandson a call-to-action found on clothing packaging, along with product samplingopportunities. Tide is also collaborating withWalmartto encourage consumers to turn to cold for the love of their clothes, theirwallets and the planet through in-store product sampling and demos, digitaladvertising, in-store signage, social media promotion and more.

Tide’s partnerships to drive sustainable outcomes are even moving beyond thelimits of our planet: Tide is working with NASA through a Space Act Agreementand the International Space Station NationalLaboratory to create adetergent suitable for the resource-constrained confines of space, and tounderstand how to translate those efficiencies back to Planet Earth. (Thistesting will continue on current and future space missions).

Further, nothing sends a message like a good celebritycampaign;so, Tide enlisted the help of Mr. T, Ice-T and Stone Cold Steve Austinin various TV ads to help drive the message home further.

The combined efforts seem to be working.

Tide reports that in 2023, the percentage of laundry loads washed in cold waterin North America had risen to 57 percent — from less than half (48 percent) in2020. Tide calculates that the shift to-date has already helped avoid nearly 4million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The positive outlook is due in part to the laundry giant’s proactive approach topartnering to drive positive consumer behavior change; and it’s likely the brandwill continue to leverage its scale and size to get more people washing on cold,and to inspire other brands — large and small — to join and help consumersreduce their household environmental impact in other ways.

[1]: By 2030 compared to a 2020 baseline

[2]: In non-HE washer, 8 loads/wk from hot to cold, avg electricity rate(13.3c/kWh)