WE’RE ON A MISSION TO LEAD A CLEVER REVOLUTION

After seeing the damage to waterways and aquatic life caused by phosphates and other cleaning chemicals, a bunch of Belgian hippy scientists decide to find a better way. Starting from a tiny shed, they develop a bold new phosphate-free formula and launch ECOVER®.

Our first box of washing powder hits supermarket shelves across Belgium. A new market for alternative cleaning products is born. It’s what eco-conscious consumers have been waiting for – and demand surges.

To launch ECOVER®. in the UK, we create the ‘Washes Righter’ recycled poster campaign. Made from the printed overruns of old posters and assembled on the floor of an old carpet warehouse in Greenwich, each 10ft x 60ft poster is a one-off created by 100 up-and-coming UK artists

We built our ecological factory in Malle, Belgium. With a living, green roof for insulation, eco-bricks made from recycled coal waste and sustainable wood instead of concrete and steel. It’s the place we’re still proud to call home today.

We thought it would be a good idea to launch a naturally-derived beer glass cleaner for pubs and bars. Needless to say it didn’t catch on.

The UN puts us in their Global 500 Roll of Honour for outstanding achievements in protecting and improving the environment. Another Environmental Stewardship Award follows in 1999 for our commitment to environmental manufacturing processes.

As sponsors of Antwerp’s Laundry Day festival, we launch ‘Softens Your Clothes’, a tongue-in-cheek fabric softener campaign. We took the famous AC/DC logo, rewrote it as ABBA and stuck it on a tough hairy biker. The limited-edition t-shirts given out at the festival didn’t hang around for long.

We launch a daring ad campaign deliberately giving away our biodegradable formula. Challenging the competition to use it ‘for nature’s sake’ with one ad appearing directly outside a big corporate competitor company. The goal? To put environmental protection above every other consideration.

Time® Magazine features us and then-CEO Mick Bremans as Eco Pioneers for their Hero of the Environment issue. Along with 30 other green trailblazers fighting to save the planet.

To help raise awareness around water usage, we partnered with WaterAid to launch an on-pack promotion and free water care pack, including a hippo water saver for toilets. We also helped fundraise for their many life-saving projects around the world.

Our scientists make a real discovery, creating a new eco-surfactant for our new range of hard surface cleaners. Using sugar fermentation instead of petroleum, these tough molecules deliver a powerful, naturally derived clean.

We unleash our first 100% recyclable plastic bottles made from renewable sugarcane instead of petroleum. Nowadays, our bottles are made from post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic.

To highlight the harm of plastic waste in our oceans, we launch a limited-edition washing-up liquid in a specially designed Ocean Plastic bottle. The first of its kind, the 2014 bottle is made up of 10% of plastic recovered from the North Sea with the rest coming from post-consumer recycled plastic.

We launch our new palm oil-free ECOVER Laundry Fabric Softener. With the help of a softening agent derived from French rapeseed oil, we are able to remove palm oil from the formula. As a result, that year we cut our responsibly-sourced palm oil use by around 200 tons.

Our new sub-brand – ECOVER Essential – launches for the health food trade in mainland Europe. Featuring 100% naturally derived fragrances, the range is certified by ECOCERT, the rigorous standard for environmentally friendly natural detergents.

Single-use, throwaway plastic culture has had its day. So we’ve given our plastic packaging a serious rethink. The result? Our brand new Washing Up Liquid bottle made from 100% post-consumer recycled, 100% recyclable plastic.

Our campaign to raise awareness of the problem of fashion waste and how people can lessen their impact. By falling back in love with the clothes they already own, keeping them in use, and out of landfill.

We can’t recycle our way out of our climate problems. Plastic can last a lifetime, so let’s put it to work. Our mission is to make reusing containers as habitual as recycling them. So we’re making it easier than ever to do just that.

Time to rethink the millions of tonnes of food that goes to waste in Europe each year with our limited run of cleaners made using up to 97% rescued food waste (excl. water). Because waste is only waste if we waste it.

The fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions . So we need to wash right, wear more and waste less – showing people how to give their clothes a cheeky new lease of life by washing, stitching, mending, reviving or reimagining them. Helping to save the world, one pair of pants at a time.

We launched our very first carbon neutral certified product (excl. use) using gold standard offsets and rigorous carbon reduction plans. Our clever laundry capsules are double concentrated, made with upcycled fragrances and effective at 20oC.

We asked the nation to rethink and air their laundry habits. The results were paw-sitively enlightening, with 21% letting their pets sleep on the bed, 33% admitting to washing towels every 2 weeks or longer, and 51% still mostly washing at 40oC or higher.

We’ve taken a four-legged stand against over-washing with an anti-waste icon: The Chair. Asking people to wear their clothes over and over, then wash with Ecover. Collaborating with Charity Supermarket and Lily Cole to help people wash better and waste less.

Mini but mighty, we’ve removed the wrappers from our new dishwasher tablets, using an innovative plastic-free coating to help protect them and fit more cleaning power into one tiny (recyclable) box.

We’re still waging war on waste, saying sayonara to single-use plastic and battling all the other big bad problems out there. Ready to take up your squeegee?