Eco-Friendly Laundry: Sustainability Steps for 2023
alternatives to your traditional laundry detergentwe’ve all seen the horrifying images of the gigantic piles of plastic waste.
A recent report from Greenpeace shared that only 5% of the 51 million tons of plastics were recycled in 2021. What percentage of the 95% of plastics that are making their way to waste facilities are laundry detergent? For that I suggest we head to your own recycling bin.
One of the largest jugs I see in recycling bins are the large laundry detergent jugs and that’s why it’s a great place to start when thinking about how you can do your part in becoming more sustainable.
In my network alone, we’ll create over 1.5 million laundry bottles in landfills unless we change our behavior today. The question that many friends have is: what can I do?
First, use what you have.
Waste never helps. Use what you have and while you’re using that up, investigate the Good, Better, Best alternatives I share below and commit to picking one action.
Second, acknowledge the truth.
Even with the best of intentions, many of your items placed in the recycling bin are not recycled for a variety of factors including contamination, lack of infrastructure/facilities to handle the load, and improper handling at recycling facilities. For this reason, simply switching to a product labeled eco-friendly in a plastic recyclable bottle isn’t truly taking a sustainable step forward.
Third, consider alternatives.
kind laundry is where I started my journey with Laundry Detergent Sheets. Here’s what they had to say: Kind Laundry Strips are zero-waste packaged and safer laundry alternative to traditional laundry detergents.
Did you know close to 1 billion plastic laundry detergent jugs are discarded annually, just in the U.S. alone?
Less than 10% actually gets recycled and the remaining ends up in the ocean, landfills, waterways or gets exported to poorer nations. At this rate, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050*.
Eco Roots is a hypoallergenic, eco-friendly, and ultra-concentrated laundry detergent sheet. It’s used in any washing machine.
Another option that we use in my own home is Grove Co. Laundry Detergent Sheets.
What makes laundry detergent sheets a much better choice for the environment?
- Plastic Jug is not in the picture here
- Plant-based products remove water contamination concerns
- Environmental load of shipping this product is significantly less
- Paper & cardboard packaging is highly recyclable.
- Sheets save a huge amount of water, as 60-90% of liquid laundry detergents are water.
So what’s stopping you?
Effectiveness – There are a lot of engrained beliefs about “is it working” with laundry detergent. Approaching this experiment with curiosity can help. The are many options to try in the market today and committing to this change is your first step.
Smell?
Many of you know me as Coach Cucci and you know that we have a very (very) active household and with that comes some concerns about odor. While the nostalgia is often triggered by traditional detergents the essential oils infused varieties do a great job of bringing a scent to your freshly folded laundry.
Price?
When we compare price the cost per load with laundry detergent sheets the average cost per load is $.55 compared to an average cost per load of $.44 with pods and $.34 with liquid. A marginal difference at the end of the day with a tremendous impact on our environment.
What becomes possible when we make this shift? This year your family has the opportunity to save 32 plastic laundry containers from our oceans, from third world countries, from the pile of garbage that exists somewhere in your county. And it takes one small Add to Cart change. I hope you’ll join me.
Next time we’ll be taking on: What we can learn about companies tying compensation to ESG goals. Stay tuned!