Decreasing resource consumption concerning electricity, water and detergents in the framework of automatic dishwashing is not only determined by technical improvements. First and foremost, the use phase, in other words, the consumers and their choices, for example, the type of dishwasher, the kind of dishwashing programmes selected and the method of pretreating dishes, play an important role in terms of saving energy. To investigate the current dishwashing habits in Germany, 4 000 private households were asked about the usage of automatic dishwashers and the general dish treatment in everyday life. The results of the survey have shown a broad range of consumer behavior due to individual dishwashing habits. It also became obvious that consumers who more frequently use the energy saving "eco programme" tend to pretreat some dishes, such as pots and pans, with additional resources more often than the households who use other programmes. Therefore, the study reveals that a holistic view due to all resources consuming dishwashing steps is necessary to deduce adequate consumer recommendations for saving energy, water and detergents.
