Doing your laundry can often be a chore, but it doesn’t have to be! With some simple eco-friendly upgrades, you can make doing the laundry more environmentally friendly and even save yourself time and money in the long run.
In this article, we’ll explore some tips for making your laundry routine more sustainable. We’ll cover topics such as understanding energy ratings, switching up your detergent choices, and reducing water waste.
So whether you already have an eco-friendly mindset or are looking for ways to start making small changes at home—this is the article for you. Let’s get started!
Understand Energy Ratings
When making your laundry routine more sustainable and energy-efficient, the first step is understanding the different appliance ratings. Most laundry machines and dryers have a label that displays their energy rating. The higher the energy rating, the more efficient your appliances will be with electricity and water usage.
In addition, you should also look out for any other green certifications or logos on your appliances. This could include eco-labels from recognized organizations or WaterSense labels, which indicate that the machine has been designed to save water resources.
Choose an Eco-Friendly Detergent
When it comes to laundry, choosing an eco-friendly laundry detergent is a great way to make doing your laundry more sustainable. Laundry detergents contain various chemicals that can harm the environment and our health. Eco-friendly laundry detergents are made with natural ingredients that are non-toxic and biodegradable, so they won’t pollute our rivers, lakes, and oceans or be absorbed into our food chain through drinking water. Many eco-friendly laundry alternatives also come in convenient laundry detergent sheets, which use less packaging than liquid laundry detergent. This makes them even more sustainable since less packaging means fewer resources are consumed in their production. Consider switching to laundry strips instead of regular liquid or powder detergents. These strips are compact and easy to store, plus they’re more concentrated, so you can use less product per load—saving both time and money.
Eco-friendly laundry detergents are very effective in cleaning laundry and can be used on all fabrics. Some even have special stain removers, such as grapefruit seed extract or eucalyptus oil. This makes them more powerful than regular laundry detergents while still being environmentally safe.
Clean With Cold Water
Cleaning with cold water is one of the best ways to make your laundry more eco-friendly. Using cold water helps preserve the color, shape, and size of fabrics for longer periods, reducing the number of times you have to replace them. Cold water also requires less energy than hot or warm water to heat up, meaning that you will use less energy – further reducing your carbon footprint. Additionally, using cold water prevents dirt and oils from sticking to fabric fibers when being washed – making cold-water washes much more effective in removing dirt and grime without using as many chemicals or detergents. This means fewer chemicals seeping into our waterways and oceans, making a cleaner environment overall.
Cleaning with cold water is also much gentler on fabrics than hot or warm water. By using cold temperatures, you can avoid damaging the fibers of your clothes and linens and minimize shrinkage. This means your favorite items will last longer!
Reduce Water Waste
Another way to make your laundry routine more sustainable is to reduce water waste. Most modern washers are equipped with various sensors that sense the weight of items in the wash and adjust the amount of water used accordingly.
Also, try not to overfill or overload your washer too much—this can cause clothes to get dirty again since they don’t move around enough in the machine. Aim for half-full loads instead so you can still get your laundry done without wasting as much water.
Hang Clothes to Dry
If you want to save even more energy and resources, try hang-drying your clothes instead of putting them in the dryer. This is especially beneficial on sunny days when the sun can help dry out your items faster! Plus, this method has been found to make clothes last longer since they’re not exposed to high temperatures like with electric tumble dryers.
Remember that some delicate items should not be hung up as this may cause damage or shrinkage over time. In these cases, it’s best to lay them flat or use a low heat setting on the dryer if needed.
With these tips, you can make doing your laundry more eco-friendly and save yourself time and money in the long run. Start small by switching up your detergent choices or understanding energy ratings, then gradually work up to reducing water waste or hang-drying clothes. You’ll be surprised at how much of an impact these small changes can have on the environment!
