Tips and Tricks for Earth-Friendly Laundering

You buy recycled products, green household cleaners and do your best to separate recyclables from trash. You’re an earth-friendly superstar helping our planet one egg carton at a time. So how can you do more to ensure you’re reducing your carbon footprint and helping out the environment?

One of the biggest day-to-day chores that causes a major negative impact on our planet is washing our clothes. Doing laundry is a necessity, however, there are some small things you can do to limit water pollution, energy use and launder “safer” for our planet. Follow these tips and tricks to continue on your green living journey.

Use concentrated detergent that comes in recyclable packaging

Better Life’s Dirt-Demolishing Laundry Detergent is 4x as concentrated and never uses ingredients such as; ethoxylates, synthetic fragrances, chlorine or bleach. All of these ingredients can be harmful to the environment when dumped back into our water sources after washing. You can also recycle the container once it's empty and buying in bulk will reduce the amount of bottles you have to recycle.

Wash delicates by hand

Save money, and energy by washing delicate items by hand. This can also help improve the lifecycle of your garments. Using a dry rack or line drying clothes can also help save energy and make your clothes last longer. Best part, Better Life’s Dirt-Demolishing Laundry Detergent can be used to launder hand washed clothing! Use a little bit and extend the life of your delicates. 

Remove lint

If you use the dryer, clean the lint trap before starting your dry cycle. Dryer lint build-up can restrict airflow and cause poor dryer performance. With a dirty lint trap, your clothes will take longer to dry — and use more energy.

Brighten whites with lemons 

For a natural whitening solution, skip the bleach and use lemons instead! This technique is best for "white" cotton and polyester material and not recommended for silk clothing.  Important: It's possible to over-bleach using lemon juice, so be sure to find exact directions from an expert. 

Wash in cold water

According to Energy Star, almost 90% of the energy consumed by a washing machine goes to heating water. Switching from hot or warm water to cold water washing, saves that energy. In fact, each household that makes the switch to cold-water washing eliminates about 1,600 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.