ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ANALYSIS OF HYGIENE AND CLEANING PRODUCTS PACKAGING WASTE

Hygiene and cleaning products are used for personal hygiene, household, workspace, and public area cleaning. However, since hygiene and cleaning products may contain substances with specific toxicological and eco-toxicological properties, they can negatively affect human and environmental health. Direct human health impact of hygiene and cleaning products is the result of their manipulation during their manufacture and their use for washing, cleaning, and other forms of hygiene maintenance. Indirect human health impact of these products is manifested through environmental pollution, e.g. through drinking water extracted from eutrophic areas. Negative environmental impact of these products and their packaging is manifested through anthropogenic eutrophication, increased water and energy consumption, ambient degradation, and generation of large amounts of packaging waste. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to highlight the negative environmental impact, which depends on the type, composition, and quantity of hygiene and cleaning products and their packaging waste. The paper presents results obtained within the research project Environmental Impact of Hygiene and Cleaning Products and Their Packaging, conducted at the recycling centre of the Public Utility Company “Mediana” in Niš, Serbia in 2014 and 2015. Key words: hygiene and cleaning products, environment, environmental impact, hygiene and cleaning products waste.