A Yorkshire (UK) chemical specialist is recording expanding sales of one of its key products most commonly used in hand hygiene and personal care products. Airedale Chemical, based in Cross Hills, North Yorkshire, has seen sales of its own surfactant range, Airsurf, increase by 45% in the last 12 months alone.
 

Experts at the company are attributing this to the mounting awareness of the effect hand hygiene has on health and the spread of illness and disease. Recent reports show that effective handwashing reduces respiratory illnesses such as the common cold by up to 21%. It could also reduce the amount of time children are off school with stomach-related illnesses by up to 57%.
 

Daniel Marr, head of marketing at Airedale Chemical, explains: “Our range of surfactants include some of our best-selling products and our sales and marketing team has been mindful of this shift in public consciousness, acknowledging hand hygiene has a direct impact on our health. Therefore, the role of surfactants in personal care products such as liquid soap and hand sanitiser has been a key feature in their strategy.The statistics are hard-hitting and as awareness of the risks associated with poor hand hygiene is heightened the market is certainly reacting. On average we touch 300 different surfaces every 30 minutes, exposing ourselves to around 840,000 germs so this is something that affects everyone.”

Surfactants play an essential role in modern personal care products by modifying properties to reduce surface tension allowing active ingredients to mix together. Airedale Chemical supplies surfactants for applications across many industries including personal care, recycling and waste management, food and drink manufacture, detergents and industrial cleaning.    
 

Daniel added: “We envisage that this trend will continue in the coming years and are prepared internally to deal with an even greater demand from manufacturers of soap and sanitising products.”