Okay…we admit, that may be a little bit of a leap…but did you know laundry detergent is full of bad things for the environment, including petroleum (that precious resource which occasionally gets spilled into the ocean killing baby seals….and which some people say is the reason we are freedom fighting in the middle east)….the point is clean laundry may come at a price to your health and your family's health. Detergents often use petroleum-based cleansers, chlorine or artificial dyes for brightening, and perfumes for fragrance. These leave residues on your clothing that may cause skin and respiratory reactions, according to the EPA. Here are 5 easy tips for eco-friendly (seal and peace) laundry.
1. Wash your clothes in cold water
Your washer and dryer accounts for 21.7% of the average households energy use so save water and energy by using the cold cycle on your washer.
2. Wash full loads
Operate the washer with full loads only – even if the machine has an adjustable load setting. A full load is the most efficient way to wash clothes. Why conserve water? Read more.
3. Drying
Don't be like my roommate and dry one towel and 2 socks everyday. Save your laundry and wash and dry it at the same time, or if you had a 1/2 load of lights and a 1/2 load of colors, then dry them together. And don't over dry your clothes, check on them throughout the cycle to see if they are dry.
or
Hang your cloths dry--saving energy, extends the life of your cloths and allows you to hearken back to the olden days when people spent hours and hours frolicking between the sheets hanging out to dry.
4. Only use your machine during non peak hours (5pm-9am) and clean your lint filter
Enough said.
5. Laundry Detergent
A. Buy environmentally friendly laundry detergent. All that bleach, fabric softener and detergent has to go somewhere (it goes into our rivers and oceans and soil). And most laundry detergents are made from petroleum-based cleaners which use oil, a precious, limited natural resources that will someday be depleted. Vegetable-based cleaners are made from a renewable resources and therefore save petroleum. They do make nice scents if that's what has you so attached to your Jasmine Vanilla Orange Blossom fabric softener that actually makes your cloths smell like a hamster cage.
Try Seventh Generation, Mrs Meyers or Method.
B. Use the correct amount of laundry soap for you machine and the size o
f your load of laundry (yes this means you have to read the box and measure.) Or try these premeasured eco-friendly Dropps! They are like those dishwasher gel packets for clothes.C. Buy the concentrated version of laundry detergent, it saves millions of pounds of cardboard, plastic and water. Even Wal-Mart has pledged to sell only concentrated detergent by May of 2008.
Extra Credit
Buy an ENERGY STAR clothes washer, which uses 50% less energy and 40% less water per load than a conventional machine. Save as much as $113 annually.
If you don't do your own laundry then print out these tips and hang them up for your cleaning person (or your mom) and remember when you dry clean to go to an eco-friendly dry cleaner.
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