Top six ways to make your laundry eco-friendly

1. Avoid plastic bags

Green Garmento from the US is a great product for eliminating single-use dry cleaning plastic bags. They offer 4-in-1 reusable garment bags to buy online.

2. Use environmentally friendly detergent

Conventional detergents can use ingredients that aren't good for you, your clothes or the environment. When looking for a laundry detergent, keep an eye out for something that is biodegradable, phosphate free and made from plant and vegetable-based ingredients.

3. Making your own laundry detergent

You'll just need a handful of ingredients that can be found at most grocery stores. After some practice with creating your own detergent, you can add essential oils which can give your clothing a unique scent.

4. Hang it out to dry

Try to time your laundry days according to the weather so that you can use the sun to do your work and avoid constantly using the dryer.

5. Use cold water

About 90% of the energy associated with doing laundry involves just heating up the water. Where possible, try washing your clothes with cold water to save energy.

6. Wash full loads

Even the most energy efficient machine loads can use 150 litres of water. Minimising the amount of loads you do per week can save both money and water. Try to wear your clothes more than once. Think about whether it truly needs washing before throwing it in your laundry basket right away. Ensure that when you do a load that it is a full load.

The information in this article has been prepared for general information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice or specific advice to any particular person. Any advice contained in the document is general advice, not intended as legal advice or professional advice and does not take into account any person’s particular circumstances. Before acting on anything based on this advice you should consider its appropriateness to you, having regard to your objectives and needs.