Laundry: 'Going Green'

The cover story on detergents featured only innovations offered by large multinational corporations (C&EN, Jan. 29, page 13). The untold story is that some smaller firms paved the way with regard to environmentally friendly detergents. Unilever is credited in C&EN for introducing a concentrated liquid laundry detergent in February 2006. Intercon Chemical Co., a much smaller firm, formulated concentrated laundry detergents that were launched commercially by another small company, Method Home, in the summer of 2004 and have been available in Target stores. This was a full one-and-one-half years before Unilever released All Small & Mighty. Intercon Chemical Co., Method Home, and no doubt other small companies have people dedicated to developing, manufacturing, and marketing environmentally friendly products. Please don't snub the smaller companies.

Carl Von TillJeff Hicks
St. Louis