Americans Swap Safety for Style in Laundry Rooms

Newswise — Americans Swap Safety for Style in Laundry Rooms

• New research shows 36% of Americans believe they can enhance their laundry space with decorative jars or containers
• Practice puts Americans at risk for unintentional poisonings, says American Cleaning Institute
• Important reminders ahead of National Poison Prevention Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 18, 2024 - Americans are swapping safety for style and are ditching their cleaning products original containers for a laundry room makeover. New research from the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) finds that 36% of Americans believe they can enhance their laundry space with decorative jars or containers, and 12% of Americans already do this.

The portrayal of unsafe storage of liquid laundry packets (LLPs) on popular social media platforms is a trend that has been increasing in recent years, as previous research released by ACI indicates.

“To combat the rise of unsafe home organization trends, the American Cleaning Institute unveiled the #StoreNotDecor initiative, which aims at helping prevent accidents in the home and raise awareness of prioritizing safety over style,” said Brian Sansoni, ACI Senior Vice President of Communications and Outreach.

National Poison Prevention Week (March 17-23) offers a timely reminder to take a look around your home to help prevent accidental exposures to everyday products. Decanting cleaning products and storing them as decoration within the home puts children, as well as adults with cognitive impairments, at an increased risk for accidental poisoning exposure.

Simple Steps for Laundry Safety

Whether you are reorganizing your home or doing your weekly laundry routine, keep these safety practices in mind:

• Like any other household cleaning product, keep liquid laundry packets up high and out of the reach and sight of children.
• Store all laundry packets in their original container with labels intact and remember, when it comes to LLPs and cleaning products, it’s always Store Not Décor.
• Prevention is the most critical step in avoiding exposure but in the event of an accident, save the Poison Help number in your phone and post it visibly at home: 1-800-222-1222. 

To learn more about laundry room safety and for resources to help prevent accidental liquid laundry packet exposures, visit PacketsUp.com. Join the conversation on social media with #PacketsUp #StoreNotDecor.

About the Survey

The American Cleaning Institute Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 1,000 nationally representative US adults ages 18+, between February 12th and February 19th, 2024, using an email invitation and an online survey. Data has been weighted to ensure an accurate representation of US adults ages 18+.

Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.1 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.

About ACI

The American Cleaning Institute^® (ACI – www.cleaninginstitute.org) is the Home of the U.S. Cleaning Products Industry^® and represents the $60 billion U.S. cleaning product supply chain. ACI members include the manufacturers and formulators of soaps, detergents, and general cleaning products used in household, commercial, industrial and institutional settings; companies that supply ingredients and finished packaging for these products; and chemical distributors. ACI serves the growth and innovation of the U.S. cleaning products industry by advancing the health and quality of life of people and protecting our planet. ACI achieves this through a continuous commitment to sound science and being a credible voice for the cleaning products industry.