Ecover supplies 26 countries with washing powder and cleaning materials

With growth rates of 20 % a year, Ecover’s footprint is covering more and more countries across the world. Concept manager Peter Malaise is anticipating turnover of more than 70 million euros by the end of 2008. The company was founded in 1980 to produce eco-washing powders and environmentally friendly cleaning agents, and from the outset it employed plant-based raw materials. This eco-pioneer is now bringing two new products to market: plant-based biotensides developed by the company itself and Ecocert-controlled cosmetic products with raw materials from organic agriculture. (Picture: Peter Malaise, Concept Manager in front of Ecover’s production facility in Malle/Belgium)
Ecover now has a presence in four continents, and the number of countries (26) where you find its products is steadily increasing. The company’s wide product range consists of around 30 consumer articles plus the cosmetics line Wellments and almost 60 products for commercial use. It employs 155 people in the two eco-factories in Belgium and North West France and in its branches abroad. “We use 600 different raw materials, and every single one has been subjected to the most exacting tests,” comments Peter Malaise. Whether it’s cosmetics, washing powder or cleaning materials, everything is developed according to the same strict criteria in the company’s own laboratory. The main inputs are tensides based on coconut, palm and rape oil, sugar or glucose and mineral substances like zeolithe (sodium aluminium sulphate) or salts of citric acid (citrates). “We check in detail to make sure that every single raw material is ecologically beyond reproach,” explains Mr Malaise. Because sandelwood is endangered, for example, we use sandelwood which is from cultivated sources in Australia and not from harvesting in the wild, that is decimating natural stocks. “Since the end of October 2008, we have been the only representative of the alternative ecological industry at the “Roundtable on sustainable palm oil”. This is a forum constituted by producers who are developing strategies and alternatives in palm oil cultivation, and Malaise is proud of his close contact with them and the influence he can bring to bear on the production conditions. (Picture on left: Tom Domen, Marketing Manager at Ecover)

“We recently introduced a natural cosmetics range - four products that are certified by Ecocert: shower gel, shampoo, hand wash and baby bath,” says Mr Malaise. Between 98.8 % and 99.3 % of all the contents are from natural sources, and at least 5 % of these are organic. He cannot foresee in the near future the complete conversion to organic. He says he would perhaps be in favour of total conversion, but Ecover rejects large-scale input of raw materials from organic agriculture for ethical reasons. “As long as people in other countries go hungry and don’t have assured access to clean water, we cannot reasonably justify those raw materials in ‘technical’ products,” explains Peter Malaise. Products from certified organic agriculture don’t belong in the washing machine. Given its production and sales volumes, if Ecover took this step it would rapidly sweep the market clean of organic oils. “We supply Great Britain with five lorry loads of finished products a day, which roughly equals 80 tons of raw materials. Britain, that accounts for 50% of sales, is the company’s biggest market, followed by the USA, Belgium, France and Germany.

Nine people work in the laboratory in Malle, 25 km north east of Antwerp. Here the quality control of raw materials is carried out, and the processing and the final products are checked. This is also where Ecover products are developed and basic research is carried on. The company has been involved for five years in an international research project on biotensides with the universities of Aachen, Stuttgart, Brunswick, Vienna and Ghent. Tensides are active agents of major importance in the washing process, and usually they are produced in a synthetic process from mineral oil. “After intensive research we have succeeded in producing biotensides in an organic reactor from natural materials like rape oil and coconut oil. In this process we use the bacterium Candida Bombicula, that produces the desired result from sustainable raw materials in combination with glucose. This is a big breakthrough – at long last we can produce ecological tensides,” says Dirk Develter, head of research and development at Ecover. This biotenside, that has been patented by Ecover and produced in a small test plant, will go into full production and be used in four new Ecover products from 2009. The company invested 1.5 million euros in the research that was carried out at the five universities mentioned above. (Picture on right: Small version of the production vat for new biotenside)

Peter Malaise responds to criticism of the use of enzymes in washing powder by pointing out the ecological benefits. Not only do they produce a cleaner wash but they also save a lot of energy, because they are effective at low water temperatures. And enzymes have been used for ages in beer and wine production and cheese making. He says the crucial factor is that no enzymes are left in the clothes after they have been washed and adds that the enzymes used by Ecover are only 0.006 % of the washing powder and are natural and not genetically manipulated. “The aim of our product development is to achieve the lowest possible consumption of energy and water,” says Malaise. Ecover sells the washing powder Sensitive for customers who prefer a washing powder without enzymes or fragrance. (Picture: In the washing lab, tests are carried out with 15 washing machines of various makes)

Whereas Ecover’s growth was largely attributable to sales to private households with an interest in ecology, now more and more cleaning companies in the public sector are coming forward to purchase its products. Town councils in, for example, Ghent, Antwerp and Leuven have stipulated that only eco-products may be used to clean their buildings, and Peter Malaise is pleased to report that the EU parliament building Berlaimont is cleaned with Ecover materials. A good quarter of towns and communities in Belgium already insist on cleaning agents produced by Ecover.

Ecover’s marketing strategy varies according to country. Whereas from the outset in Great Britain the main sales channel has been the conventional chains (Sainsbury, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Boot’s and Morrisons’s), in Germany, France and Holland, where there are more specialist shops, it is mainly wholefood stores that sell Ecover products. However, since the end of 2007 the situation has changed, because organic and eco- products are playing an increasingly important role in the conventional retail trade in these countries. Ecover now supplies selected chains like Carrefour, Auchan and Galerie Lafayette in France and Tegut, Rewe, Real, Globus, Tegelmann and others in Germany – something that certainly did not gladden the hearts of the specialist trade. Whereas the conventional retail trade limited itself in the main to a basic range of six to twelve articles, specialist stores usually do justice to the great variety of Ecover products by stocking up to 32 lines. But the fact is that only a small proportion of customers in organic stores buy their washing powder and cleaning materials there too. Most people, however, buy conventional products in the drug store round the corner. Peter Malaise: “In specialist wholefood stores, washing and cleaning products account for just 0.6 % of total turnover.” For this reason, Ecover sees considerable potential for both sales channels in Germany. He says it was surprising that only 8% of customers bought both their organic food and washing and cleaning items in the same shop. In his view, most customers had still not understood that clothes, and therefore the products used to wash them, were a ‘second skin’. And the ‘third skin’ too – the house itself – had to be cleaned with environmentally friendly agents to avoid any detrimental effects on our ‘first skin’. In the Ecover philosophy, our external personal hygiene – including cosmetics and skincare products – is one of the various layers with which we are surrounded. So hygiene is the overarching concept that binds together all Ecover products.

Ecover has created partner days for the specialist trade. Malaise explains: “The events are designed to provide wholesalers and the retail trade with information, and they have proved to be very popular. And the information and inspection tours we arranged in May and September this year eliminated a lot of prejudice and superficial knowledge. People were really interested, and we had lots of discussions with them during factory visits in Malle and Boulogne sur mer.” The concept manager went on to say that Ecover receives around 4000 visitors – individuals or groups – each year. In the middle of November 2008, a group from England visited Malle in Belgium.

The refill system for washing up liquid, hand wash, multi-purpose cleaner and liquid soap is only available to the specialist trade. This has so far saved millions of PE-containers. “Sometimes we get customers coming along with Ecover bottles that are ten years old to top up with washing and cleaning agents,” says Tom Domen (in picture on left next to the new dispensers). The retail trade in France, Belgium and Great Britain in particular has taken advantage of the chance to install 25 litre packs, so that customers can refill their own bottles. The empty bulk containers are sent back to Ecover. Now even this cost has been saved – since the end of September the company has gone over to the new Bag-in-Box system – a 15 litre plastic sack in a cardboard box. “Our new refill points were readily accepted by the retail trade, and they help to reinforce customer loyalty,” explains Tom Domen from the marketing department. This system saves customers 10 % of the purchase price. Ecover is still searching for a wholesaler interested in rolling out the attractive filling point system across the country. (Picture on right: pleasant atmosphere in the office)

Ecover is also a model in terms of recycling. Next to the production facility you see the various containers waiting to be re-used (picture below left) and the company’s own sewage disposal plant (picture below in centre). The big cartons (picture below on right) supplied to Ecover by the packaging manufacturer are taken back and re-used. This is an initiative encouraged by Ecover and now the packaging manufacturer operates the system on a large scale.



Growth is very pleasing in those countries in particular where Ecover has a large presence. In 2007, growth in Great Britain was 43 %. In Germany and France, Ecover expects growth in 2008 of 30 % - instead of the 20 % achieved so far – on account of its entry into the conventional retail trade. Total turnover for 2008 could be in excess of 70 million euros. The company is having to operate a three shift system to meet the production demands.

As a matter of principle and for ethical reasons, the company does not supply discounters, because it does not want to contribute to ruinous competition. It does not produce for other brands – total production is for the Ecover and Wellments labels only. In Switzerland the company is represented by its subsidiary Held. New export countries in 2008 were Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia.

The takeover of the Austrian natural cosmetics manufacturer Wellments in 2005 and conversion to a profitable product range clearly proved to be more difficult than expected. The number of lines was cut from 80 to 60, and then came redesigning and rebranding. The company reports that it is now on the way to success, even though the competition in the natural cosmetics sector in Germany and France is particularly tough. It is anticipating a growth rate of 5 % for 2008.

To keep abreast of the huge growth rates, Ecover established new facilities in the north of France in 2006. It created its second eco-factory in Boulogne sur mer on the English Channel coast, just a stone’s throw away from Ecover’s biggest customer Great Britain. The modern 10,000 m² production facility was opened on 10 May 2007 by Jørgen Philip Sørensen, the owner of Ecover. (Picture on right: batch samples of finished products)

Although Ecover is now almost thirty years old, Peter Malaise feels he is still working in a young pioneer business that is always developing new ideas and opening up new areas of activity. He thinks it is possible that in future household containers made from polyethylene will be replaced by organic plastic from renewable raw materials. In his view, there are still plenty of areas of activity where Ecover can engage.
They call themselves the “environmental realists from Malle” and they are ideally placed to provide the right answers to mankind’s increasingly pressing environmental problems – at least to some important issues.

Tip: www.ecover.com