Sterillium® – more than just a hand disinfectant

Facts, figures and data about our blue icon

Sterillium bottle with facts and figures in the background Sterillium bottle with facts and figures in the background
Hand Icon: Good to know!
Sterillium® stands for infection prevention in the work environment and for protecting our loved ones at home. We are proud to be a brand that is used synonymously with hand hygiene. But our everyday helper stands for even more than that. Sterillium® production is committed to CO2 savings (within the scope of possibility), a pioneer in its field and sometimes as heavy as a herd of elephants. A blue icon with a long story that could fill many pages if we were to write it down. But sometimes you don't want to read long before you find the facts. That's why we have clearly summarised the most important facts, figures and data – the essence of Sterillium® – here.
White lettering on dark blue background: 1965

A medicinal product with a long history

The first bottle of Sterillium® rolled off the production line in Hamburg as early as 1965. Hence, we already have over 55 years of experience in protecting and caring for the hands of young and old. But we are not resting on our laurels - we continue to put Sterillium® to the test by conducting international studies and collecting field reports.

One happy product family

In addition to Sterillium®, HARTMANN produces over 400 products for disinfection, cleaning, skin care and skin antisepsis across the entire range and all country versions. You want to know more about them? Visit https://www.hartmann.info/de-de/produkte/desinfektion-und-hygiene, for example, for the German product family overview.
White lettering on dark blue background: 400
White lettering on dark blue background: 47 tonnes*

47 tonnes every day

This is the amount of Sterillium® that leaves our factory in Hamburg-Stellingen every day to ensure better hand hygiene all over the world. That is roughly equivalent to the weight of 10 adult elephants. How many hand disinfections is that enough for? You can find out more in the next sliders!

*data before the corona pandemic

Hello! Cześć! Salut! Hola! Szia!

Sterillium® is used in over 50 countries worldwide.
White lettering on dark blue background: 50+
White lettering on dark blue background: approx. 4 billion*

Approximately 4 billion times

That's how many hand disinfections are performed with Sterillium® each year. Our mission is to reach as many people as possible around the world, to bring infection prevention closer to them.

*data before the corona pandemic

Award-winning sample product

In 2016, 2019 and 2022, Sterillium® was named Brand of the Century - a prize awarded by Florian Langenscheidt and the ZEIT publishing group, which honours German brands that exemplify an entire product category.
White lettering on dark blue background: 3x
White lettering on dark blue background: 16 + 83 tonnes

Environmentally conscious

We want to act as future-oriented as possible. That is why we have made the production of Sterillium® more environmentally conscious. Thanks to the optimisation of the compressed air system for filling the bottles, we save 16 tonnes of CO2 per year. In addition, by reducing the weight of the PE bottles for all dye- and fragrance-free Sterillium® products, we have been able to save 83 tonnes of raw material per year for plastic production.

Don't skimp

3 ml Sterillium® are needed for hygienic hand disinfection. That is more than you think. Often, a teaspoon is compared to 5 ml, so a little less than this amount should end up in your hands every time you disinfect them.
White lettering on dark blue background: 3 ml
White lettering on dark blue background: 30 seconds

Sing "Happy Birthday" twice

This is how long Sterillium® should be rubbed into the hands. Pay particular attention to the fingertips, nail folds and thumbs to avoid gaps. By the way, already during the application, the smell of alcohol also disappears.

Effectiveness to the decimal point

Bacteria that we carry on our hands, e.g. after touching contaminated surfaces, are reduced to 99.99 % with hygienic hand disinfection with Sterillium®. But that's not all: You can find out about all other efficacies in our overviews “products by microbiological activities” here.

*after 30 seconds exposure time

White lettering on dark blue background: 99,99%

“HWG-Pflichttexte” for our Sterillium® range in English and German, also below in the footer.


Use disinfectants safely.
Always read label and product information before use.

Explore more stories