5 Laundry habits you can adopt to help the environment

Written by Sophie Barrow

5 Laundry habits you can adopt to help the environment
As an individual, the fight against climate change can seem hopeless. How much impact can one person have on the planet? But it's important to remember that you're not fighting alone - everyone's efforts have an impact, especially when we all fight together. Here are some laundry habits that you can adopt that will probably have more positive effects than you realise. 

1. Use the washing machine less 

This might seem like an obvious one, but how many times do you spill something on an item of clothing and bung it in the washing machine? Now is the perfect time to start spot cleaning and hand-washing. For spot cleaning, use a tiny drop of laundry detergent and rub the dirty mark with a clean cloth. If you decide to try hand-washing, depending on how many items you're washing and how big they are, fill a bathroom sink with warm water and about a teaspoon of detergent per 1 or 2 items. You might prefer to only fill the sink enough to cover the garment then re-fill it every few items to ensure clean water - but do this with caution as saving water is important in our fight against climate change. 

2. Wash with cold water

Washing with cold water saves on energy and helps reduce the amount of lost microfibres - both which are important steps to protect the planet. You might find that washing with cold water also increases the longevity of your clothes. In recent studies, cold washing helped look fabric and maintained its colour. While there are some items that still require a hot wash to clean properly, actually many of our clothes will be just as clean in cold water, especially as many detergents are engineered to work with cooler temperatures. 

3. Ditch the dryer

Even modern dryers take an hour or two, or more, to dry clothes. While this might speed up drying time for you, think of how much energy is used to run the dryer for this length of time - especially with a full load. Tumble dryers also remove microfibres from clothes, which is why you need to remove lint so readily. Skip this step of your washing routine with some organisation. Plan in advance when you're going to do different washes and ensure there is enough time for clothes to dry before you need to wear them. This way, there's no need for the dryer but you're singlehandedly having a positive impact on the planet. 

4. Use eco-friendly washing detergent 

We had to speak about this, obviously! Regular washing detergent is not just unhealthy for you and your family, but it is bad for the environment. Standard detergent does not degrade quickly, it often contains optical brighteners (which makes fabric appear brighter) and phosphates which can be life threatening for fish. Unlike these detergents, our range is eco-friendly. This means healthy for you, your family and the environment. 

5. Wait for a full washing machine 

Ensuring that each wash is full will help you use the machine less frequently. Try waiting until your household has a full wash between you before putting it on. Any washes you do which are half-loads or less use the same amount of water and energy as a full load. A washing rota might help with this - figure out which days will be for which type of washing, so everyone is able to organise accordingly. 

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