The Importance of Sustainable Laundering
Your clothes - they are worn on your body, near your skin every day, all day long. Did you know that the laundering process is actually an extremely harmful and toxic process, both to the body and to the earth?
So, you might be wondering: what can I do to ensure that my laundering is not adding to the global issue, as well as negatively impacting my own health?
Here are five tips to improving the laundering of your clothes - and improving your own health and the environment around you!
First, Use your dryer as little as possible. Not only does your dryer use a lot of energy (which costs money) the lint from your dryer is actually your clothes slowly wearing down. You can cut down on your energy bill, reducing your energy consumption, and take better care of your clothes by hanging them to dry!
Second, switch to energy-efficient appliances. If you must use them, having energy efficient appliances will at least cut down on the usage - both when it comes to water, and energy use. A front-loading washer uses about half the water that a top-loading washer does!
Third, use cold or tap water as often as possible. When washing, choosing a cool water option also cuts down on energy usage, which helps reduce the negative affects of laundering on the environment.
Next, choose a safer detergent. Laundry detergents contain some of the most harmful ingredients. Specifically, fragrance is an ingredient found on many of the labels - which means that the ingredients found in your detergent are unregulated by the FDA. I have found my favorite detergent - Thieves Detergent from Young Living. It is a very concentrated product that lasts me 6-9 months - so it is actually more cost-efficient than other products. Other options I have tried include Molly Suds unscented laundry powder.
Lastly, switch to wool dryer balls to eliminate dryer sheets. These also contain fragrance, and the added waste is harmful to the environment. I add a few drops of essential oils to mine to help my laundry smell even more fresh and lovely!
— Kenzie
