Laundry is a chore that most of us abhor! However, it must be done. Not sure many of us think about the environmental impact of laundry but it is there. Essentially, laundry boils down to two types of impacts: waste production and energy usage. In this article Eco-Friendly today has gone over some of the common myths, tips, tricks and equipment in the laundry game to bring you this comprehensive guide on greening your laundry.
At home or away?
If you are lucky enough to have at-home laundry the idea of ever going to a laundry mat will seem like a step back and those of us who use the local laundry mat dream of a day when we don’t have to step out to get things done. However, the evidence is clear that from an environmental impact the laundry mat is the way to go. Laundry mats use large commercial-grade machines that will often get more routine maintenance than the home machine. These tend to be able to do more with less. Also consider that the bank of a few dozen machines at the laundry mat will be running constantly, whereas the machines in a home will probably only see action a few times a week. Manufacturing thousands of small machines for infrequent home use is much less efficient than building hundreds of large machines for frequent communal use.
Also, a wave of energy-efficient, eco-friendly, sustainable laundry mats is making waves around the world. With innovative idea’s like recycled water, solar panels and cutting-edge super high-efficiency machines a laundry mat has the capital to spend on big energy-saving idea’s more than a small home.
Types of Laundry Machines
Okay so the convenience of doing your laundry is a huge pull away from going to the laundry mat and if your feeling bad about that there is still things you can green your machines. When it comes to the style of machine front loaders win out when it comes to efficiency. They use less water and fewer resources with better results so if you can get a front loader that is the way to go. When you compare a front loader against a top loader the front loaders will use about 20L less water per run which is about 7500L less per year for the average family! The reason that Front-loaders use less water is that the spinning of the drum drags the items through the little pool at the bottom. Top loaders have to be filled up to make sure everything gets saturated.
Energy Usage VS Waste Produced
Next, consider the detergents and products you use to wash your clothes with. Herein lies the ultimate choice we have to make when it comes to laundry until someone comes up with a better product that maximizes both. Do we want to conserve energy? Or do we want to limit chemical waste? A huge majority of the energy used in cleaning our garments comes from using hot water. If you even consider the entire supply chain of laundry detergents and laundry machines the energy used at the end is still a whopping 70%! By making one simple change we can drastically cut down on this energy use. That simple change is to wash in cold water. However, the problem with cold water is that it doesn’t clean as well as hot water. Enter a new category of laundry detergent, the cold water-compatible style! Chemists have come up with laundry detergent that does as good a job in cold water as it does in hot! The only problem is that these detergents are not as eco-friendly as the alternative. There exists on the market a dizzying array of laundry products that are fully sustainable and contain eco-friendly and biodegradable materials that won’t harm the planet. These work best in a hot water cycle. Can you see the dilemma facing the modern laundry-dooer?
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