Natural Laundry Detergent
Overview

If you want to go green why not look into natural laundry detergents?

When you're looking for ways to make your household more ecologically friendly, one of the first places that you can look is the laundry room. You will also find our Nautral Laundry Detergent Guide useful.

The laundry room is one great place to make some significantly eco-friendly decisions and now more than ever there are plenty of choices available to you.

Look for environmentally friendly laundry detergents. Commercial laundry detergents take a fairly hefty toll on the environment in term of processing, packaging and disposal, and when you take into account the amount of laundry that a typical family of four will go through, this environmental footprint can be a large one indeed.

Look for laundry detergents from green companies like Ecover, which specialize in detergents that are meant to be more environmentally healthy.

In terms of cleaning power, these laundry detergents do lack the power of detergents that use harsher chemicals. Many people have found that keeping both on hand, the eco-friendly laundry detergent and the heavier stain remover, works out very well.

It is important to remember a natural laundry detergent is very much a new thing. We can expect the future to bring green-friendly detergents that are more powerful.

In many ways, reducing the usage of harsh chemicals can go a long way towards reducing the impact that they have on our world. Some people split their laundry loads between normal, lightly soiled loads that get the green detergent and heavier loads that require chemical cleaning.

Other detergent options include products like Aquaballs and Ecoballs, which are perforated plastic balls that contain ceramic granules inside them. The agitation from the water will induce the granules to work to lift dirt and grease from your clothing, all without doing chemicals. With no chemicals to wash out, clothes can use a shorter rinse cycle, which handily saves electricity.

For the best results, the makers of this product recommend that users utilize a cold cycle, rather than a hot one, which similarly saves energy. Moreover, these products are one time purchases. One ball in this fashion can be used for about 1000 washes, saving on the packaging and shipping that are required to bring detergents to their end locations.

The use of Aquaballs and Ecoballs are something of a blessing to people who suffer from skin allergies and many people enjoy the lack of chemical freshness that comes with the use of such cleaners. Some people take a bit longer to adjust due to the fact that they are simply unfamiliar with the smell of clothes that have been cleansed without chemicals.

Depending on what your laundry is like and what your household's needs are, green laundry detergents may be the best way to go, so make sure that you take a look at this valuable opportunity!

Eco friendly laundry room tips

• Switch from liquid detergent to powder. Liquid detergent contains large amounts of water so has more packaging – buy them concentrated if you do buy liquids.
• Air dry the clothes on a clothes line. Sunlight is free and disinfects clothes naturally because it is a natural bleaching agent. If you have to use a dryer use a gas one which don’t impact the environment as much.
• Don’t bother with dryer sheets. Most of them have the same chemicals found in the fabric softeners. Therefore they aren’t biodegradable as well as being harmful to your health. You can reduce the static cling by separating natural and synthetic fibres when you dry.

Related Article: Eco Friendly Detergent buying guide

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