Univar Solutions: Home care shifts toward smart, simple & sustainable cleaning

Home care solutions are moving to surround comfort, convenience, and sensoriality, placing a focus on the consumers’ lived experience of their space. In tandem, consumers are becoming more informed about the wellness and sustainability implications of chemical ingredients in their homes. 

The rise of sustainably-minded and health-conscious consumers is leading to a refined criticality of greenwashing and inauthentic industry claims.

Personal Care Insights sits down with Allison Hunter, technical services manager for Homecare & Industrial Cleaning at Ingredients + Specialties at Univar Solutions, to discuss major shifts in the home care category, consumer needs, innovation pipelines, and hygiene efficacy.

What major shifts are you seeing in the home care category when it comes to innovation?

Hunter: Innovation in home care is moving away from sheer cleaning power toward smarter, easier, and more holistic solutions. Performance still matters, but it’s now expected. What’s changing is how that performance is delivered. We’re seeing strong momentum around products that get the job done with fewer steps, less scrubbing, and results that last longer. This includes technologies that help maintain cleanliness after application or help prevent re-soiling.

Consumers are also simplifying their routines, which is why multi-purpose and all-in-one cleaners continue to dominate innovation, especially when they can genuinely help match the performance of specialist products while saving time, money, and space.

Sustainability has also evolved. Eco-friendly claims are everywhere now, but consumers are increasingly skeptical, so brands are shifting toward proof-based sustainability through biodegradable ingredients, refill formats, and verified claims rather than broad ‘green’ language.

Additionally, home care is becoming more experiential. Better fragrances, wellness cues, and design-forward packaging are elevating cleaning into something that fits into a lifestyle, not just a chore. Underpinning all of this is a clear move toward gentler, health-first formulations, with more transparency and increased use of enzymes (microbial-enabled) instead of certain chemistries. Overall, innovation today isn’t about making products stronger — it’s about making cleaning easier, more reassuring, and better suited to modern life.

How are consumer expectations shaping your innovation pipeline right now? Which unmet needs are you prioritizing?

Consumers are demanding safer and more transparent cleaning ingredients.

Hunter: Consumer expectations are pushing innovation toward reassurance, simplicity, and relevance. One of the strongest drivers is demand for ‘clean that lasts.’ People want surfaces to stay visibly and hygienically clean longer, which is fueling interest in microbial-enabled and bio-based technologies that help prevent soil build-up and support ongoing cleanliness, rather than just one-time cleaning. Time pressure is another major influence. While hygiene standards remain elevated post-pandemic, consumers have far less time, so innovation is focused on faster, lower-effort solutions such as scrub-free, rinse-free, and more automated formats that fit into busy routines.

Health reassurance is also front and center. Shoppers are paying closer attention to ingredients, safety, and inhalation exposure, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms, and they want tangible proof that products are safe for children, pets, and sensitive users — not just vague claims or green labels. Odor control remains a meaningful unmet need. Consumers are increasingly looking for true odor neutralization rather than heavy fragrance masking, especially as scent sensitivity rises and home environments become more multi-use.

Finally, value expectations are shaping pipelines as well. Inflation and private label growth mean consumers expect credible performance at a fair price, which is forcing brands to clearly justify premium positioning through efficacy, proof points, and multi-functionality. Overall, innovation is prioritizing solutions that reduce friction and stress while delivering confidence and value rather than adding complexity.

What innovations are underway for improving efficacy in germ protection, odor elimination, or hygiene benchmarking?

Hunter: There are innovations in the works, but how these benefits are delivered is evolving significantly. Germ protection is a good example. While traditional antibacterial claims have leveled off from their pandemic peak, demand for hygiene reassurance remains strong, especially in hygiene-critical spaces and in certain markets in Asia. What’s changing is that brands are moving beyond simple messaging and pairing germ protection with longer-term cleanliness approaches, including gentler antimicrobial systems and microbial-enabled cleaning technologies that support ongoing surface balance and feel safer for everyday use.

Hygiene proof is another active area of innovation. Consumers increasingly want reassurance that surfaces are genuinely clean, which is driving more visible and measurable cues, such as before and after signals, indicator-based tools, and early connections between cleaning products and diagnostics, sensors, or automated systems.

Looking ahead, we expect these cues to become more subtle and integrated, including sensory or visual signals embedded directly into automated cleaning routines. Overall, the category is moving toward efficacy reinforced through evidence, visibility, and reassurance rather than claims alone.