Sonett, manufacturer of ecological laundry detergents and cleaning agents, has been awarded, for the second time, the prestigious German Sustainability Prize 2024. In 2022 Sonett was awarded for their foundation model and the company being managed in a spirit of partnership in the “Transformationsfeld Gesellschaft” (“Area of Societal Transformation”). 

This year the award for their being sustainability pioneer in the area “laundry detergents and cleaning agents” is being added. The prize is awarded for the 16th time. The Foundation German Sustainability Prize describes the winners as “examples of the sustainable transformation in Germany”. It states further that “The 140 members of the jury of the German Sustainability Prize for companies have decided with expertise, perceptiveness and courage in favour of those enterprises that, to their point of view, this year are leading the sustainable transformation in their respective fields.” As far as Sonett is concerned it is emphasized that “it is the Sonett Ltd.’s wish to transform their own field towards sustainability. The enterprise relies on laundry detergents and cleaning agents that are free of harmful substances, harmless to inshore waters and ecology, and that contain organically grown substances. 

Furthermore, Sonett offers a system of taking back and recycling containers and packaging in order to reuse them.” REUSABLE INSTEAD OF DISPOSABLE – “industrial cycle” at Sonett’s Sonett has always supported replenishing the Sonett products and, to this purpose, offers many products in 10-litre and 20-litre canisters, as well as the respective equipment for refilling. Sonett started with their reusable and recycling project “Taking back Canisters” in 2019, aiming at taking back 10-litre and 20-litre canisters after their use by the customers, and to then clean and replenish them. 

Currently 14 organic wholesalers and more than 240 unpacked-goods shops are involved in this project. 80 % of the canisters are reusable, the rest enters into Sonett’s recycling system. Damaged canisters, not reusable any longer, are shredded, washed and added as recyclate when producing new bottles. Since January 2021 the first Sonett bottles with up to 50 % of Sonett’s own PE recyclate have been on the market. Sonett do their own recycling In addition, Sonett, with their recycling boxes, offer a system of taking back small empty Sonett containers. The reason for Sonett’s own recycling being that plastic materials from recyclable waste collection always might contain harmful substances. For this reason, they are not approved for foodstuffs and are, therefore, also out of the question for Sonett products. 

At present, more than 360 recycling boxes are to be found in German organic shops where the consumers can return their empty Sonett bottles and be certain that they will be reused and added when producing new Sonett bottles. Thanks to the two Sonett cycles “Reusable” and “Recycling” approx. 12.9 tons of plastics could be saved in 2021, and in 2022 already more than 21 tons – with an increasing tendency. Saving resources: Water the essence of all life It was the wish to save resources that motivated Sonett early on. Sonett started off in the 70ies when the organic food movement set in. For at the end of the 60ies, the rivers in Germany were frothing over due to the “novel” non-degradable surfactants of laundry detergents. At that time, the Institute for Flow Dynamics in Herrischried (Germany) detected the extent to which the ground water was polluted by those surfactants as early as then. This alarming realization made Sonett develop the idea of “washing in a modular system”, a label which Sonett introduced onto the market in the 70ies as pioneer in the health food movement. Using this system, the components: active washing substances, softener and bleach complex, are being measured out separately taking into account the local water hardness and the degree of soiling of the laundry. Thanks to this method resources are saved to a great extent, and one can wash with purely plant-based surfactants and pure oxygen bleach. All raw materials used for the Sonett products are 100% biodegradable, contain no petrochemicals, and are free from genetic engineering as well as from microplastics. Last time efficiency and ecology of the modular system received nice recognition was in 2019 when Sonett was made winner of the ÖKO-TEST (Ecological Test) compared to 21 conventional heavy-duty detergents sold in supermarkets and four eco laundry detergents.

The winners of the German Sustainability Prize 2024 were published in the FAZ edition of Oct. 31, 2023. The Sustainability Prizes will be handed over and awarded on Nov. 23, 2023 in Düsseldorf on the occasion of a gala event under the auspices of the Federal Minister of the Environment Steffi Lemke and the Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius.