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The Product-Disposable Wipes

Just a decade ago, about the only wipes on the market were for babies' backsides. These days, there are wipes for virtually every household chore -- and virtually every part of the body.

The Existing Market

The exiting market grew out of the baby wipe industry. "The wiping of America is exploding into every product category," says Tom Vierhile, executive editor of Product Alert. Americans' dual infatuations with cleanliness and convenience account for the emerging trends of product enhancement and new users for products that incorporate the same or similar textile-like fabric of the baby wipe. Consumer preferences make even slight product variations 'sellable' to a market that values 'portable' or 'travel sized' packaging and the 'use it and toss it' disposal element. The fact that wipes cost about half what they did when a few were first tested a decade ago and a competitive market with downward pressure on pricing strategies allows for easy market entry for competitors and short 'time to market' development cycles.

The existing market covers three major segments:

 Personal Care-Humans & Animals

 Automobile & Marine

 Household or Commercial Cleaning

About 28 billion individual baby wipes were sold last year -- and nearly 40% of them weren't used for cleaning baby backsides. In many cases, adults are using them to wipe their own hands and faces.

Just twelve years ago, P&G didn't make or sell a single wipe. In 2002, baby wipes accounted for nearly 2% of P&G's total sales -- or about $800 million. An industry that barely existed in the early 1990s posted annual sales of nearly $2 billion in 2002, according to The New England Consulting Group. That figure will more than double to $4.5 billion by 2010, the company projects. Some 110 different kinds of wipes were introduced in 2001, reports Product Alert, a publication that tracks new products.

Environmental Implications

Most disposal wipes are made from polyester viscose.

 Viscose is a regenerated fiber derived from cellulose, the basic building block of plants. It is generally biodegradable.

 Polyester is a synthetic fiber and is predominantly oil-based which is a non-renewable resource.

 Its manufacture is energy intensive and involves the use of a wide range of chemical processes, which can, if not strictly controlled, produce emissions, which are harmful to the atmosphere or water. It an take hundreds of years to biodegrade.

Most consumers, don't buy nearly as "green" as they talk. "Americans pick convenience over environmental concerns eight ways from Sunday," future Wayne Wacker says.

 Nearly all of the disposable wipes currently on the market are not biodegradable.

 A few recent toilet cleaning products can be flushed safely with no danger to septic systems or waste treatment facilities.

 Most products can be recycled but don't change the time it takes existing products to breakdown

 Chemicals applied to the wipes present emerging risks

 Existing products promote disposability rather than re-use or recycle

Scope

Wipes have a ways to go before they take over landfills. As of 2002, Procter & Gamble's own internal study suggested that baby wipes account for less than 0.05% of the nation's solid waste. By comparison, diapers account for about 2%. But, with a product growth and extendability beyond baby wipes ? New uses and product features present risks such as bacteria, chemicals, and non-renewable resources beyond just landfill implications.

The Stakeholder View