I love my laundry detergent. It works on just about any stain my kids can concoct. Occasionally I have to wash things twice, but most of the time, it is my hero in the laundry room. I know in my heart, though, that my detergent is bad for me. Yes, laundry detergent is the Russell Crowe of cleaning products.
Tonight, I surfed the web looking for information on how it affects the environment.
It would seem that most of the ingredients in traditional laundry detergents are synthetic, and slow to degrade (although they can claim they are biodegradable) in the environment. The worst is the surfactant nonylphenol ethoxylate, or NPE.
Phosphates, which occur in nature, are added to remove hard water minerals. But too many of them in our water can unbalance ecosystems and cause overgrowth of certain plant species, which can be as harmful as synthetic substances.
I fetched my bottle of traditional detergent, but the ingredient list is rather vague. “Ingredients include biodegradable surfactants (anionic and nonionic), and enzymes. Contains no phosphates.” Hmm. How does this translate? I went to the product website, but found no information on ingredients (nor any claims that the product in environmentally friendly). But I read on a consumer site that the company that makes it stopped using NPE a while back, which is good.
I also recently bought Planet detergent, which claims to be “environmentally friendly.” A visit to their website, planetinc.com, claims all their products are “non-toxic to aquatic life” and “certified 100% biodegradable.” They claim the laundry detergent is made from corn and coconut based cleaners. The bottle is recyclable, and made from at least 40% recycled plastic. It’s not tested on animals, either. It works pretty well, although I haven’t used it on any heavy-duty dirt, yet.
Another choice is Seventh Generation. And this is interesting. In an interview I read, the makers of Seventh Generation claim a study of their liquid laundry detergent showed that 96 percent of its contribution to global warming came not in its manufacture or shipment but in its use: Heating the water in which the detergent works best counted for nearly all of its greenhouse gas emissions.
I’m guessing this is true for all detergents. So it would seem that a cold-water washing formula would do the most toward sparing the environment. Seventh Generation now says on their website (seventhgeneration.com) that their detergent works great in cold water. I’m going to give it a try.
Check out this link for reviews of laundry detergents.
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/house_and_home/laundry-detergent/
Tip for Day Twelve – To save energy, wash laundry in cold water whenever possible.
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2 comments:
I've used eco-friendly laundry detergent for years (decades, even), doing most of my wash in cold water, and have never noticed a problem getting clothes clean. Occasionally a stubborn stain might need a spray-n-wash boost, but that's about it. I started using the eco-friendly detergent more because of my husband's allergy to the fragrances and who know what else in regular detergent. No more giant itchy hives is a great incentive to switch detergents, but the eco angle is also welcome.
I mail order the detergent from www.gaiam.com. There have been a few different brands offered on the website over the years. Currently I'm using ECOS Free and Clear - www.ecos.com), along with recycled-content napkins, paper towels and TP. My kids think the unbleached (brown) napkins and paper towels are normal and white ones are weird. (The TP is not brown, tho! lol) It saves a lot of room in the grocery cart when you don't have to get these at the store. It is very convenient to have these things delivered.
If you're concerned about delivery truck CO2, gaiam gives you the option of paying to plant trees to offset the emissions - $2 per tree.
Just checked out gaiam.com.
What a great site! Too bad we aren't shopping right now, because I love the outdoor rug made of recycled soda bottles. Thanks for your post!
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