Collaboration & Co-Creation Collaboration & Co-Creation

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Dow, Unilever Team Up on Breakthrough Hygiene Solution

Today, in recognition of Global Handwashing Day, Dow and Unilever have collaborated on an improvement that is expected to positively impact health and hygiene around the world.Unilever's Lifebuoy, the world’s #1 germ protection soap, now uses DOW POLYOX™ Water-Soluble Polymers in its unique formulation, creating a soap that lasts longer, providing better value while still feeling great on the skin.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 10 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Today, in recognition of Global Handwashing Day, Dow and Unilever have collaborated on an improvement that is expected to positively impact health and hygiene around the world.

Unilever's Lifebuoy, the world’s #1 germ protection soap, now uses DOW POLYOX™ Water-Soluble Polymers in its unique formulation, creating a soap that lasts longer, providing better value while still feeling great on the skin.

“A simple bar of soap features many complex chemistries,” said A.N. Sreeram, Corporate VP of Research and Development at Dow. “By collaborating directly with the Lifebuoy R&D team, we realized that the challenges they faced could be addressed with controlled-release technology to design a bar of soap formulated to stay intact while releasing ingredients slowly and at the right time.”

Due to its potential to impact health and hygiene globally, Dow has named the technology as one of its “Breakthroughs to World Challenges.”

Addressing Global Needs Through Collaboration

Washing hands with soap is a proven way to prevent the spread of life-threatening diseases, especially among children. In fact, nearly 2 million children under the age of 5 die each year from infectious diseases. Lifebuoy™ equips more people with a first line of defense against illnesses through the simple act of handwashing. By enabling a longer-lasting and better-quality bar of soap, POLYOX Polymers support Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan targets.

“Dow’s polymer technology is a great example of how collaboration can result in leading innovation and outstanding results. This technology has helped to grow the Lifebuoy™ brand while also playing a prominent role in supporting our Sustainable Living Plan goal of helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and wellbeing by 2020,” comments David Blanchard, Chief Research and Development Officer at Unilever.

Speaking of improving health and hygiene around the world, last month at the Global Citizen Festival, Unilever announced a commitment to help 25 million people gain improved access to toilets by 2020 — another initiative aimed at meeting the company’s Sustainable Living Plan goal of helping one billion people improve their health and well-being by 2020, and augmenting existing goals on providing access to safe and affordable drinking water, and education on the importance of hand-washing with soap.