Community surveys highlight consumer behaviour towards natural cleaning products

Community surveys highlight consumer behaviour towards natural cleaning products

Two online research surveys have been conducted in recent months as part of the Safer Solutions project.

Respondents to the first survey (drawn from the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) NSW database) revealed:

• Respondents used, on average, between 11-30 different chemical containing products in the home with the majority being cleaning products.
• The majority of respondents were reported as 'committed/aware' females (80 percent) who demonstrated a high level of knowledge about hazardous chemicals, yet 40 percent of these showed little concern about potential health effects.
• 78 percent said they had used natural cleaning products with the top three motivations for use being: to reduce contamination of the environment (68 percent); general concern about chemical load in the home (63 percent); and lastly to reduce waste (39 percent).
• The top three barriers to use of natural cleaning products were: not aware of how to use them (76 percent); belief that they don't work as efficiently (21 percent); and take too long to use (12 percent).
• More than 80 percent said they would be likely to use an environmentally safer cleaning product if it was available at the same price as conventional cleaners.

The second survey group (drawn from the general NSW adult population over 18 years) was found to be more 'price sensitive' to purchasing natural cleaning products.

They listed their main motivation for using natural alternatives as:

• to save money (33 percent);
• followed by concern about chemical load (32%); and
• reducing contamination of the environment (28 percent).

> More information

• Safersolutions website
• TEC Website