Do you look for environmental ways to do your chores? Maybe you ride a bike to work, or maybe you always make sure to clean up litter. However, you impact the environment, you may be interested in greener ways to handle your laundry. Unfortunately, it is not convenient for most people to wash and dry their clothing by hand. However, there are many ways to improve how you machine wash laundry that benefits the environment.
Use Green Detergent
One of the best ways to clean your clothing more environmentally is to use green detergent. Most traditional storebought detergents contain phosphates. When phosphates enter an ecosystem they can cause increases in algae that unbalance the ecosystem. There are many phosphate-free detergents that can keep your clothing clean and stain free to choose from.
Use Concentrated Detergents
Concentrated detergents require less packaging than detergents that have already been cut with water. Smaller packaging means less waste for the environment. Make sure you get the right detergent for your machine and that you always use the correct amount. Over foaming can cause problems with washers and even break them. Replacing a machine can be expensive, and laundromats can charge customers for broken machinery.
Invest in Energy Efficient Washers
Front-loading washing machines (also known as horizontal axis machines) use less water than older top-loading machines. Many machines now come with an energy star rating. If your laundromat, apartment building, or college dorm building doesn’t have energy efficient machines, consider recommending them to your property manager.
Use Cold Water
A lot of energy is wasted when washing with warm or hot water. Modern washing machines are actually designed to clean just as well using cold water as warm water. That is why it is important to modernize laundry rooms with energy efficient cold water machines.
Wash Full Loads of Laundry
Another important tip to saving energy, money, and being generally more environmentally friendly is to wash full loads only. That does not mean overloading a machine. Overloaded machines can get damaged and are expensive to repair or replace. However, cleaning a half load or less than a full load is not optimal.
Automatic Laundry
At Automatic Laundry, we provide the best in washers and dryers for commercial clients. We have a strict environmental policy that focuses on only offering machines that have high efficiency. If you manage a laundromat, college laundry room, apartment, or condo unit and want to upgrade your machines, give us a call.
