Laundry Detergent

What is the biggest plastic bottle in your house? In mine it was the laundry liquid bottle.

If I bought a bottle that contained 38 washes and did 7 washes a week (although tbh we probably do more) it would be about 5 weeks to go through a bottle. That would create 10 large plastic bottles (20 if you include fabric conditioner too) to go in the waste or recycling each year.

Is this an area you could reduce waste in?

A few ideas for alternatives include…

• Visiting a refill store to refill your existing container. 1 container can then potentially last years!

• Using an Eco Laundry Egg (https://www.ecoegg.com/). The egg contains mineral pellets that draw dirt from your clothing fibres and soften your clothes by changing the pH. All you need to do is pop the egg in with your wash and replace the pellets every 2 months or so. The egg replaces both your laundry detergent and fabric conditioner. I have one I use when I run out of laundry liquid but was put off as there was not a fragrance. Looking online now I see they do have fragrances so I think I will have to give them another go! Note the 10% off if you sign up to their newsletter online. You can get a starter set for £11.99.

• How about laundry strips? I haven’t used these but I have been told how good they are. All you do is tear off a little strip and add it to your wash. Clearly a much more economical use of lorry space when transporting the product around the country than large plastic bottles. Also, far less waste. These are the ones we discussed… www.tru.earth#

· A follower recommended using Smol laundry detergent capsules that are delivered through your door. They came in plastic free packaging and are a subscription service – I note you can sign up for a free trial on their website too. www.smolproducts.com.

• Fancy an even simpler method – straight from nature? Soap nuts are the answer! Again, I haven’t used these but my sister has and she was happy with them. You just pop a few nuts (depending on your water soft/hardness) in a cloth bag and include them with your wash. You can then just compost the nuts after they have been used a few times.

• As with soap nuts you can even use conkers to wash clothes. The process is a bit more involved than just throwing them in a cloth bag but it is really interesting to see how a natural product can be made. Just make sure you don’t collect too many and leave enough conkers for nature!

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After posting this step in January 2023 I was given following recommendations...

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https://blueearthclean.com/ laundry strips

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www.biod.co.uk for laundry powder