It’s Poison Prevention Week

The 59th Annual Poison Prevention Week is underway today through March 27. For the past several years, the home care industry has spearheaded a number of initiatives to make sure consumers are safe at home. For example, the American Cleaning Institute's Packets Up! initiative reminds parents and care givers to keep unit dose laundry packs away from kids. Yet, new research from the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) finds nearly 13% of Americans are not storing liquid laundry packets in their original child resistant containers.


A simple search on popular social media platforms, like Pinterest, show hundreds of trending images encouraging followers to display laundry packets and detergents as décor in glass or plastic jars – a home organization decision that could put curious kids at risk for potential poison exposures. In response, ACI has launched the #StoreNotDecor Challenge to help families recognize unsafe storage trends and raise awareness of the importance of laundry safety.

To combat the rise of this unsafe home organization fad on social media that sacrifices safe storage, the #StoreNotDecor Challenge calls on Americans to identify unsafe images online, spark conversation about laundry room safety and ultimately “change the picture” on proper storage to reduce the risk of unintentional poison exposures. The #StoreNotDecor Challenge will be powered by a variety of digital influencers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Pinterest encouraging followers to participate.

“The growing trend on social media displaying detergent as décor is concerning. Many households display their liquid laundry packets and other laundry detergents in clear, glass or plastic jars, opening the door for potential accidental exposures that are easily prevented if proper storage techniques are followed,” said Brian Sansoni, ACI SVP-communications and outreach. “Through our #StoreNotDecor Challenge, we urge Americans to keep safety top of mind with any home organization or improvement project and highlight the built-in safety innovations of the product packaging that serve to deter accidents and prevent accidental exposures.”

The #StoreNotDecor Challenge is part of the Packets Up! campaign, an industry effort working to help reduce the number of unintended exposures to liquid laundry packets among children and vulnerable adults. Now in its ninth year, the Packets Up! campaign works to educate parents and caregivers on the importance of proper use and storage of liquid laundry packets and other household cleaners.