How concentrated cleaning products fit into daily life: dosage, usage, and packaging need to be designed together

On September 29, 2026, the Closed Loop Center released a study on concentrated formulas and source reduction. Laundry sheets, powders, water-dilutable concentrates, and refill packs were all within the scope of its discussion. The study suggested that these forms have the potential to reduce water content and some packaging during product transportation, but whether consumers are willing to use them still depends on whether they can understand the category, calculate the cost per use, and successfully complete mixing, dispensing, and refilling.

Small packaging does not mean that the user experience naturally becomes simpler. After a large bottle of liquid is changed to small sachets of concentrate, users may need to add water themselves; tablets eliminate the need for a measuring cup, but users still need to know clearly how many to use at one time and where to place them. Closed Loop Center specifically points out that mixing, measuring, and refilling are new behaviors, and unclear instructions may lead to misuse, thereby affecting the cleaning experience. Therefore, simply writing "concentrate" on the front of the package is not enough; the number of uses, single dose, and operational steps must also be immediately noticeable.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists reducing packaging, product redesign, and reuse as source reduction methods, and places source reduction as a priority in the waste management hierarchy. This provides a design direction for concentrated products, but one cannot claim that every product performs better environmentally simply because of reduced volume. What needs to be compared is what changes occur in the formulation, internal and external packaging, transportation, and actual usage when performing the same cleaning task.

In EPHYON's ODM services for cleaning products, concentration, like cleaning power, fragrance type, pH value, and viscosity, can be evaluated as a development direction according to product category and target market; feasibility of sampling, packaging, and mass production also needs to be reviewed together. This means that concentration is not simply putting the original liquid into a smaller bottle, but requires the formula, container, dispensing method, and production conditions to be mutually compatible. When consumers see claims like saving packaging or easier rinsing, they should also pay attention to which product and which method of use these claims refer to.

There are various approaches to dose design. Single-dose laundry pods prepackage the amount for one use, eliminating the need for a measuring cup; dilutable liquids require clear water dilution instructions and appropriate measuring tools. There is no unified answer across forms and scenarios: household use, refill display, and professional setting dispensing processes all face different operating conditions.

Safety should also move forward together with formulation design. A 2019 literature review included in the UK Health Security Agency research platform pointed out that high-concentration laundry pods can cause harm if accidentally touched or ingested by young children; this reminds brands that while pursuing convenient dispensing, they must also design packaging and storage instructions to prevent children's access. The US Environmental Protection Agency also reminds that certain commercial concentrated cleaning products require special management during handling, storage, and use, and advises purchasers to carefully understand vague 'green' or 'eco-friendly' claims. Specific risks still depend on the formulation and usage, and the risk of one type of formulation cannot be applied to all products.

From the perspective of packaging systems, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation views removing unnecessary packaging, adopting reusable models where appropriate, and keeping materials in continuous circulation as different directions of action. Concentrated formulas can be combined with some of these approaches, but they may also introduce new small packages or refill containers. The next step in competitiveness may not be about whose bottle is the smallest, but about who can clearly explain each use and demonstrate with product-level evidence what problem this design actually solves.