This includes soaps, washing powders and liquids, household disinfectants, air care and polishes, as well as professional cleaning and hygiene products used in industrial and institutional applications.

UKCPI runs awareness campaigns relating to product safety[1] and energy efficiency,[2] and provides materials for schools to teach about effective hand washing.

[3] The inaugural meeting of the Society of British Soap Makers was held at 2.30pm on 7 July 1954, at the Queens Hotel in Leeds, and was chaired by Mr RE Huffam of Unilever Limited.

In 1970 the SDIA merged with the Soap Makers Association and, that same year, appointed its first director general, Mr GV Richardson.

£800 million of that is taken up by companies serving the industrial and institutional sector (food processing, beverage, hospitals and healthcare cleaning and disinfection, restaurants and hotels).