SC Johnson Expands Concentrated Cleaning Products Range

Household products manufacturer SC Johnson has expanded the range of concentrated refills for its cleaning products.

The refills, branded as SC Johnson’s “Mini” line, allow customers to fill up their existing, empty trigger bottle of cleaning product with a bottle of concentrate, topped up with water from the faucet.

The Mini bottles require 79 percent less plastic than the standard bottles, avoid transporting between 19 and 23 fluid ounces of water and are accepted by most community recycling programs, the company says.

American consumers buy 320 million cleaning products in trigger bottles each year, and millions of them end up in landfills. If just 20 percent of those 320 million bottles were refilled rather than discarded, it could save seven million pounds of plastic in just one year, according to SC Johnson.

The range of concentrates (pictured) has been extended following a 2011 trial of Windex Mini and now includes Fantastik Mini kitchen cleaner, Pledge Mini furniture cleaner, Scrubbing Bubbles Mini bathroom cleaner and Shout Carpet Mini carpet stain remover.

During the 2011 pilot of Windex Mini, SC Johnson admitted that consumers were hesitant to use concentrate refills, preferring to just buy a new bottle. However, the company says it has been working to “crack the code” that will make refills more popular, adding improvements such as easy-to-pour spouts to the packaging.