Windex Bets People Are Ready to Mix Their Own Cleaning Products

SC Johnson developed what seemed like an easy way to cut back on plastic waste when it released a concentrated Windex more than a decade ago.

Customers just had to pour the blue liquid from a pouch into a spray bottle, add water and go wipe down their bathroom mirror. Turning the popular glass cleaner into a concentrate meant using 90% less plastic. It also cut production costs and emissions from shipping a product mostly composed of water.

But shoppers and retailers ignored it. The closely held consumer goods giant attempted to sell it on its own website, but ...