Lysol

Lysol products have been in extremely high demand here in the U.S. during this year. Even today, the amount of Lysol products on the shelves are slim, and the amount you can buy is limited at most stores. People choosing to use Lysol to disinfect their homes and workplaces is understandable as the EPA added a number of Lysol products it to their list of disinfectants to use. Interestingly enough, this is not the first pandemic lysol has been used in. Lysol was created in 1889, to help battle a cholera epidemic, and in 1918 was used during the Spanish Flu pandemic for disinfection similar to today (Chaudhuri, S. 2020). At that time it was owned by Lehn and Fink Inc. Today the parent company of Lysol is Reckitt and Benckiser. They are a U.K. based company that owns a number of other companies around the US and the globe specializing in “Hygiene, Health, and Nutrition” as stated by the RB company site. Lysol is made here in the U.S. and is based in New Jersey.

The factory that produces the Lysol products for the U.S. is based in Somerset County, N.J. Ingredients are shipped here, made into product, and then distributed across the country. Locals in the area are employed at this factory. During the height of the pandemic, the employees of this factory were considered essential workers, and given essential worker cards to show to authorities when stay at home orders were put in place by the New Jersey government. Employees temperatures are taken when arriving at work. They wear masks, gloves, and eye protection to help combat the virus. The number of factory workers has increased, because the factory is now running 24/7 to try and keep up with demand.(Phillips, 2020)

There are a number of cleaners used to disinfect, but the canned aerosol spray is especially popular. Here are a list of ingredients of the Lysol disinfecting aerosol spray- Ethanol, Alkyl (50% C14, 40% C12, 10% C16) Dimethyl Benzyl Ammonium Saccharinate, Water, Butane, Propane, Ethanolamine, Fragrance, MIPA-Borate, Ammonium Hydroxide. Ethanol and Alkyl are the active ingredients in the cleaner that disinfect and sanitize (RB Lysol).

The plastic bottles of Lysol are made of 25% post consumer recycled plastic and it is recommended that once empty, to be recycled. The aerosol spray cans are made of steel, approximately 25% recycled and 10% of that is post consumer. It is also recommended that the steel cans be recycled if possible when completely empty (RB Lysol).

There is a very high demand for disinfecting products. Lysol’s factory and workers have struggled to keep up with these demands. The percentage of sales for aerosol sprays overall went up 148.3% and multi purpose cleaner went up by 84.6% by the end of March 2020 (Nania, R. 2020). The Lysol factory narrowed production to only Lysol disinfecting products. Because of this shift in demand and production, the factory needed more shipments of ingredients and increase of hours and shifts. “Usually 30 or 40 tanker cars each month pull onto the plant's rail siding to deliver alcohol, a key ingredient in disinfectants. Today the factory is getting more than 50 railcar deliveries a month to feed aerosol lines that operate 24/7” (Phillips, 2020, p.1). Even with these changes to the factories production, they have had difficulty keeping up.

The Consumers

People rightfully wanted to protect themselves from the virus, and disinfecting is an important step. Lysol products are known to kill viruses and bacteria. Not only are these products used in homes, but also offices, schools, hospitals, public transit, restaurants, just to name a few. During March, people began panic buying, not only disinfectant but most other essential items as well.

The video above explains the reason why consumers were panic buying. Mentioned in this clip are, 1. guilt avoidance 2. social cues 3. anxiety and control, or lack of it. (USA Today, 2020)

Even though panic buying has subsided, shelves are never stocked with Lysol for long. The cleaner is an EPA approved product to use against the virus, adding to its demand. The Lysol disinfecting spray was one of the first cleaners to go on the EPAs list when the COVID-19 outbreak began. As of July, there are now 15 Lysol cleaners on the EPA's list of COVID-19 disinfectants. (Saulsbery, G. 2020) People will continue to purchase these products because they are tested and approved because they work. So as soon as it is available it is purchased. It is still uncertain exactly when the products stock will be completely back to normal.

Lysol and brands like it are commodities that are essential during this time. During my research of the supply chain for Lysol products, it seems it is not entirely clear. Information on where the ingredients are sourced, and what companies supply them, is difficult to find and not supplied by Lysol or R&B. It is clear that Lysol manufactures for the U.S. in New Jersey but unclear if they have any other factories that supply other countries. Though, it is known that R&B produces other cleaning produces for countries such as China. It is uncertain if COVID-19 had an effect on the supply chain of chemical ingredients to Lysol causing a drop in production, but it is possible that it did. However, it seems most likely that the biggest factor was the sharp increase of demand from consumers, due to panic buying and necessity. The uncertainty of the pandemic, with the threat of lockdown looming in the horizon had a huge impact on the shortage of it on grocery store shelves.

Overall, Lysol production and sales have increased and are constant. There is only so much one factory can do when supplying the whole country. It is also up to the consumers to understand that the supply needs to catch up with the demand, and it is uncertain when that will occur. Some things consumers can do to help during this time of low supply and high demand is to make sure they know how to use the products properly to insure they get the most use out of each bottle. They can also improve their hygiene using products other than Lysol, but make sure they are safe and effective as there were many reports of rapidly produced cleaning products causing harm to the user. Most importantly, washing their hands with soap and water to ensure that they aren't contaminating other surfaces so that they don't need to use as much disinfectant (Nania, R. 2020). There is only so much one product can do, however effective it is and this is something consumers need to learn in order to make sure that this type of supply shortage does not happen again.