The laundry habits my granny used are coming back in style with more people switching to good old fashioned vinegar, baking soda or soap flakes to get their sheets clean.
But if you are not quite ready to make such a switch, but you are still looking to reduce your impact when you wash your laundry, we’ve compiled a few tips and easy tricks to get you started.
Wash less often. The idea we need to wash something (aside from intimates) every wear is largely influenced by the companies who make laundry products. Air your clothes after use, spot clean when needed. If your clothes aren’t dirty or stinky get another wear (or more), out of them before throwing them into the laundry hamper. This will also prolong the life of your garments as the laundry can wear them out.
Separate textiles with a heavy durable texture from those with a soft surface. If you stop washing your jeans and your fleece items in the same wash load, you will extend the life of your clothes and reduce your contribution to wash-related microplastic pollution.
Use a washing bag. A seriously impactful switch is to use a Guppy Friend Laundry bag for your synthetics. During washing, synthetic garments lose plastic fibres. These break off and end up in the wastewater of your load and so far, they cannot be filtered out efficiently.
The microplastics enter the sea and are ingested by fish and other marine life. So, the plastic from our clothes ends up on our plates and harms not only nature but probably us too. Yuck! When you use a Guppy Friend laundry bag the microplastics collect in the bag and instead of being washed into our water system can be disposed of correctly.
Check your load size. A full load of laundry uses less water, product and energy than two half loads. This will also cut down your laundry time and save you money, too!
Wash cooler. Water heating is a major energy suck. According to Project Drawdown hot water for showers, laundry, and washing dishes consumes a quarter of residential energy used worldwide. Up to 30°C is sufficient for most loads. So, avoid high temperatures to save energy - it’s better for your clothes too!
Let it all hang out. Air-drying clothes uses less energy, prevents static cling on fabrics and extends the life of clothing by reducing wear and tear in the dryer. Living in a small space, it’s not always practical to air dry all our linen and towels, so when we have to use the dryer we throw a couple of pure wool dryer balls in with the load to reduce drying time, soften the laundry and prevent static.
Smarter products.
When the time comes to replace what you already have here are a few tips for what to think about for your next purchase:
If you have some tips for a greener way to get your whites whiter and your colours brighter, we’d love to hear them!
“I don’t want to contribute 40 years of garbage to a landfill just to manage something that shouldn’t even be seen as a problem.” — Susannah Enkema
This quote from Enkema really hit home for me. As a woman and mother of 3 young girls, the stigmas around menstruation and the impact it has on the environment is something I end up considering often. I started digging into it more: as women, we spend an average of 3,000 days bleeding.
That equates to roughly 12,000 pads and/or tampons in the bin.
Because the majority of sanitary products sold contain plastic, that's about 120 kg of waste per person sitting in landfill or floating in the ocean. Yikes.
If, like me you're feeling a little uneasy about the waste we're producing, you're not alone.
More and more women are making the shift towards reusable products. And as is often the case what is better for the planet is often better for our health too.
There is also the cost of purchasing these products every month. Europe wide the consumer spends between 21 euro and 125 euro each year on single use period products, it’s slightly more in Switzerland where on average each tampon here costs roughly 0.12 chf.
But there are other options available and more of us are choosing to make the swap to:
While there are some plastic free disposable options out there, I’ve fallen in love with reusable items. They’re good for you, good for the planet, good for your wallet but also much more convenient than remembering to stock up on disposables.
With reusables, you almost always have them on hand when you need.
We have a selection of reusable period products available at Eco Workshop. I’m happy to talk you through what product would be best suited and we offer a money back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied with your period product purchase.
It’s important we take control of our period and break down the stigma of menstruation. Only then can we feel comfortable to engage in dialog about better ways of managing our period which is critical to moving toward a more socially and environmentally thoughtful future.]]>We found this great article by Prairie Minimalist and think we couldn't have explained it better ourselves. If you're based in Canada you will love their site, check them out and show them some love!
Zero waste dishwashing blocks seem cool but how do you use them? Do they even work and why are they so expensive?
These bars have been getting lots of attention lately as an alternative to traditional bottles of dish soap and rightly so. They are a great plastic free way to get the dishes done. Just like many sustainable alternatives they have been around for a long time but forgotten. It's what everybody used a hundred years ago.
Well, there's all that plastic that really adds up over time. The average household likely goes through at least a bottle a month. Even if you buy large bulk containers of soap to reduce your plastic waste, there's still all the nasty chemicals that makes up a bottle of dish soap. Dishblocks are usually a natural product made with only a few ingredients that are easy to pronounce like oils, salt and water. They also use way less water to produce making them much more sustainable in their production.
You might be wondering how these work to get the the dinner dishes done. Well you have a few options depending on your task at hand.
If you have a bigger load of dishes to do you can also grate some soap into a sink full of hot water and wash as usual. You might not get all the bubbles that comes with traditional soap but your dishes will be clean none the less. If you need a little more soap, just rub your rag on the soap block.
The answer is yes, they do and can be used for other household jobs too. Use them for laundry, floors, dishes or yourself! If you miss the bottle by the sink you can always grate and melt soap about one to four parts for a liquid version. If you find you need a little more grease cutting power for the odd pot or pan there's always lemon juice or vinegar. Two of the best natural cleaning tools around.
Like many more sustainable products, the price tag can seem high but it will often last way longer. Dishblocks can last for months so they are not more expensive in the long run.
Hopefully this answers some questions. We love this easy swap. It's sustainable, non-toxic and gets the job done. It's also a great option for people with sensitive skin as it's very moisturizing and does not contain chemical fragrance. Have you tried dishwashing blocks yet?
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