My low waste laundry routine
Swapping my laundry routine to a more sustainable one was an easy, hassel free process for me, however I believe this is due to the fact that my previous routine was pretty basic. I suffer from sensitive skin and therefore used the general non bio and fragrence free detergents you buy from super markets. Unfortunatley these products are full of nasty chemicals which are bad for both your skin and the ocean. There are many other alternatives you can use to wash your clothes in a more environmentally friendly way and these are the products which work for me. I wash all of my clothes on a 30 degree short wash which lasts 15 minutes. There are other eco buttons on the washing machine but these cycles run way over an hour and I would prefer to save water and energy by using a shorter cycle.
Here is what I used to wash my clothes:
Instead of buying laundry powder or liquid, I use a product called soap nuts. These are dried fruit shells from the Sapindus mukorossi tree that contain a natural soap used to free dirt from clothes and make them smell fresh and clean. These nuts are great to wash your clothes as they are natural, organic and compostable therefore when they need replacing you can just chuck them into your compost bin and they will biodegrade naturally.
You can buy soap nuts in many natural stores and health shops and cost around £7 a bag. Annoyingly they are packaged in a plastic bag inside, however you can buy them HERE in paper! Woohoo. I bought my bag in November 2017 and still haven't used half the nuts. They last for ages! The product will also provide a small cotton pouch which you fill with the soap nuts and place in your washing machine. You can buy the bag HERE individually also. I was quite skeptical at first but have fallen in love with them. They wash my clothes really well and haven't turned back to using shop bought detergent. Since starting my journey to zero waste I have learnt that the smell of 'clean' is nothing. You don't need highly fragrenced clothes, however if you do want your clothes to smell of a certain scent, you can put a few drops of your favourite essential oil onto the cloth bag before placing it in the washing machine.
I have also stopped using fabric softener as I find that soap nuts do the job. I was buying Ecover fabric softener in bulk from my local store in my own container, but I was spending a fortune as I was using a lot of product every wash. If you prefer using liquids for your washing, you can amazingly turn your soapnuts into a liquid detergent. Recipe on this PAGE.
I use colour catcher sheets to save me from doing seperate washes and they also save my whites from turning grey. I love these as the sheets are recyclable and biodegradable as well as help to save water and energy from multiple washes. I use my sheets over and over and over again until the sheet is virtually black and therefore they last me for a while. Once all of the sheets are used I recycle them with the box.
Although I love using soap nuts, they aren't very great at removing stains from clothes and therefore I use this stain remover bar in conjuction with soap nuts. The bar is 100% organic, vegan, sustainable, ethical, cruelty free and smells DIVINE! To use, wet the stained area and rub the bar directly onto the stain, both sides of the fabric. Once lathered, place in the washing machine and wash as normal. I try and dry the bar out as much as possible on a dish rack before storing it again. I really recommend this product, however it is pricey with the delivery rate. It does, however seem to be lasting me ages but that may be due to fact I don't use it on a regular basis. This product came completely waste free! You can write a message when ordering, asking for no plastic and I was very happy to recieve no plastic at all and recycled packaging. You can order a bar HERE.
Drying my clothes
To dry my clothes I use a regular clothes rack with pegs. I very rarely use a tumble dryer and prefer to air dry my clothes. On sunny days I will hang everything out on the washing line outside. This reduces energy and electrcity bills.