How to Make Your Laundry Routine More Eco-Friendly
It has been a little over a year since I published my very first Eco-Friendly Home article. The topic was laundry and what products to buy for a more sustainable and earth-healthy laundry routine. While it was certainly earth-healthy, labeling it “sustainable” was a bit aspirational. Developing more sustainable habits isn’t solely about what to purchase, rather it’s more about how to reduce consumption and rethink our relationships with the objects we rely upon.
I feel it’s worth covering how to laundry. Personally, I used to just throw laundry in the washer and not even think about the materials I was tossing in together. Lots of ruined clothes were the result. At the time I thought two things, 1) why does doing my laundry have to require extra work?; 2) if it is ruined from a wash then it clearly has no value anymore. Washing laundry was frustrating, and when I suffered from depression, it became a CHORE. I could barely get to work or class at the time, how could I possibly summon the will to wash my clothes? That got worse when moving into apartments that had laundry floors away from me. Through those experiences though, I realized something: when we are burnt out from laboring away to make enough money to live or from taking care of our family and friends, taking care of ourselves and our basic needs calls for convenience, and convenience doesn’t always serve Earth’s interests. I hope to mediate that by first exploring some basic tips for washing and drying clothes/other household fabrics. Then provide some products that are eco-friendly and affordable.
How to: Wash/Dry
The Big Question: Which is better, front load or top load washer? Top load uses an agitator or impeller, while front load only uses an impeller. The main difference, besides construction, is that the impeller uses less water and energy (it also doesn’t tangle or trap clothes). They both get the job done, but they approach the laundry differently.
Agitators are tall spindles that use their construction (finned or vaned) to rub against clothes for cleaning and stain removal. Impellers are low-profile cones that are located at the bottom of the washer so they don’t impede the clothes from rubbing against each other.
For more info, see:
For eco-friendliness, washers with impellers are the most obvious choice.
Now that we covered that, what do all those complicated settings mean?
Wash Cycles:
The main difference between each setting below is the speed of the cycle. Normal is fast wash and fast rinse, Permanent Press is fast wash but slow rinse, and Delicate is slow wash and slow rinse.
Normal
Rule of Thumb: This is the default setting but if you’re ever unsure of a few garments and don’t want to separate them, just use the permanent press setting. To be more specific, this setting is for cotton and heavily soiled garments.
Permanent Press/Colors
Rule of Thumb: This is for non-cotton items, polyester, and basically anything that wrinkles easily. Use this setting if you have a majority of these fabrics in your load.
Delicate/Hand Wash
Rule of Thumb: Silk, gym clothing, and anything that needs a gentle/hand wash. AVOID using this setting on a washer. The high-volume of water needed for a gentler cycle also results in more of an extraction of microfibers that are then released into waterways.
Wash Temps:
Cold: Use for anything that might shrink or bleed. You can use this temp as your default unless you have heavily soiled/greased items that would need hot water to extract the stains and grime.
Warm: Use for sheets, towels, and other linen
Hot: For sanitizing items like baby clothes, cloth diapers, linens, and other athletic wear
For more info on what temperature of water to soak specific stains in:
Timer:
Good Rule of Thumb — use shorter times for the given settings unless you’re dealing with heavily soiled garments or larger loads.
Load Size:
Small — one-quarter full
Medium — one-half full
Large — more than one-half full
Extra Large — at full capacity
Dryer Settings:
Regular/Heavy — high heat and fast drying
Permanent Press — medium heat
Wrinkle Release — 10 minutes in the warm air is good enough for taking out wrinkles or 5 minutes of steam will do the trick
Delicates — AVOID, best to just air dry on a clothing line or lay flat on a surface
Air Fluffer — To soften the fabric. No more than 20 minutes is necessary.
Other Tips
Fabrics to AVOID for reducing microfibers and microplastics from entering waterways: polyester, acrylic, and nylon
Best settings to use if you only want to do one load: Normal, cold, and longest time setting if a large load. Adjust accordingly. It’s best to do large loads than small loads, as it results in less water and energy used. Grouping is always better than spreading out small loads.
Best settings to use if you want to save water: Well, if you can help it, get a washer with an impeller (most laundromats use these). The shortest possible time limit and normal or permanent press are settings to save water, too. To put into perspective:
An older washer that is not ENERGY STAR certified can use 19 gallons of water on average.
An ENERGY STAR certified washer can use 14 gallons of water on average.
Don’t want to shrink? — This occurs in high temperatures. So keep the washer cold, and then set dryer to medium or just hang dry the garments you’re worried about.
Don’t want fading? — Turn clothes inside-out and don’t use hot water. Use medium heat for drying if possible.
Best settings to use if you want to save energy: Lower the dryer heat and water temp/amount used. The preferable method is to hang dry when possible and use cold water with appropriate load size (with a ENERGY STAR certified washer preferably).
In COVID times, hand wash masks or if you are able to wait until the load, then toss it in (in hot water to sanitize). Don’t compromise your health and the cleanliness of the mask though — ideally wash a mask daily, depending on how soiled it is (don’t wait more than two days though in case it’s soiled but can’t be noticed by your eye). Hand wash for at least 20 seconds with detergent or soap (that won’t irritate your skin) and then air dry or throw in the dryer on medium-high heat. As long as you sanitize the mask in hot water and with soap, you will not have to worry about throwing it in a high heat dryer.
In summary, use normal setting, cold, and appropriate time according to load if you are uncertain. Hand wash clothing that needs a gentle cycle instead of using the wrong setting or the labeled setting on the washer.
Want to maximize your impact? Consider switching to these alternatives to your laundry purchases:
Wool dryer balls or an old wool sweater in place of fabric softeners:
These accomplish the same benefits as dryer sheets without all the added chemicals. If you want your clothes to have a fragrance, just leave 4–8 drops of essential oil on your dryer balls/sweater and repeat when the fragrance is lost. Make sure that the wool dryer balls or wool sweater you buy is ethically-sourced and cruelty-free. The most transparent one I found was from Molly’s Suds which can be purchased on their site or through Amazon. These last approximately 3 years, which makes the price well worth it. Additionally, they can be composted (unlike the plastic dryer balls that could be used as an alternative to these)!!
Laundry soap tabs, Dropps, or a natural detergent:
I currently use Blueland’s detergent tabs which come in a pack of 40 for $14, and I haven’t had any issues with them thus far (I’m nearly at the end of my pack). I just drop them in the drum before I drop my clothes in and voila, no leftover residue or staining. Since it’s only a pack of 40, and I sometimes need to use two per load, it can last me around 20 loads (or 10 weeks if I do two loads each week). But knowing that I would have to get them shipped to me and I only have 40 to use, I make them last by doing large loads and putting off loads to bi-weekly basis depending on how often I’m needing to be out of the house. The packaging is also compostable and each tab is naked in the packaging, so the only other packaging you need to worry about is the mailing. The ingredients are natural, so I also don’t need to worry about polluting the air/water involved in the process and the long-term health effects from my skin intaking leftover chemical residue.
— Dropps is another option that is also made from all-natural ingredients and with compostable packaging. For 56 pods, you spend $16 (but a better deal than Blueland’s, arguably). This can be steep, and some cycles might need more than one pod. When I used them, I found that the pouch they came with helped save my clothes from the pods leaving unwanted residue, but then I lost the pouch in the wash and found that without it, some clothes became ruined. Be sure to be mindful of this potential problem when making your decision with these or any other pod laundry detergents.
— Natural detergents are the final option I will cover for laundry detergent. These need to be plant-based, fragrance-free (unless essential oils), and they should not have optical brighteners. These are important ingredients to pay attention to because the chemicals involved in petroleum-based, optical brightener, and fragrance loaded detergents end up in waterways and cause algal blooms and either kill marine life immediately or cause deformities, infertility, and shorter life spans. Most of these chemicals cannot be removed in the wastewater treatment process and thus end up making their way into the body of water that your region’s ecosystem relies upon.
Laundry detergent manufacturers are not required to disclose all active ingredients and even when they do, how could you possibly understand what chemical is what and the harm/benefit it can provide? Why should it be on you to suffer the consequences through health problems (skin irritation, headaches, nausea, and long-term health effects from sweat/water mixing with these chemicals)? And why should you be the one who has to suffer from long-term environmental problems? An informed consumer, such as yourself, can and should demand more transparency and accountability from these manufacturers.
Some important trade-offs to consider after reading this article: Is it better to have items shipped individually from online retailers that will then join groups of other packages being sent around nationwide? The transportation involved can include vehicles and air travel and can cover thousands of miles. Or is it better to buy these items during your usual grocery trip? What if the detergents offered during your usual grocery trip have the ingredients you’re trying to avoid? And transportation can also be via air, vehicle, and your own mode of transport. You would be buying it with other items, but how can you know the miles (gas and energy) it traveled to reach you?
To make the best judgment, I would suggest seeing where you can make other trade-offs that are eco-friendly in your purchases, go for the shipping option if it’s in your budget and has minimal landfill-directed packaging, or find a local option. It is always best to go locally-made as long as you know all ingredients were locally sourced and/or have transparent transportation/manufacturing information.
I understand that sometimes there is only so much you can do. If you can at least minimize the times you use your washer/dryer and use settings that reduce water and energy usage then you’re already doing great!!
I would love to hear from you. Share your comments and tips/findings below! You can also reach me at rerecyclechi@gmail.com.
Wishing you all the best for your eco-friendly and eco-frugal journey. Until next time. :)
