Now, I was a wee bit dubious at first, especially when I
was putting vinegar into my washing machine
but I’m so happy with the results
I’ve been trying to think about the environmental
impact of lots of different parts of my life. But there is
one thing I’ve never really thought about before
and it’s something that we all do several times a week:
To do this, we use a variety of different detergents and
conditioners that we put into our washing machines and
after each wash, the chemicals and toxins from these products
not only stay in our clothes and get into our skin but
are also washed away into the environment
So I want to find out exactly what impact
laundry detergents are having on our own health
and the environment, and I also want to see what
cost-effective alternatives might exist out there
The big issue with laundry detergents, is that since the
chemicals they contain are really good at dissolving dirt
from our clothes, this means that they are also really good
at dissolving vital parts of the ecosystems that they
end up in
Now thinking about how much I use, each week in
our flat, we usually do three washes, and for each one
we’ll use around 113g of detergent
And when you times this by three for our weekly total
you get 339g
Now this is where it gets interesting
There isn’t much data on this, but what we do know is that
there are over 289,000 households that make up
Glasgow, and assuming we do an average amount of
washing in our flat, this means that we could be pouring around
one hundred tons of detergent down the drains in Glasgow
on a weekly basis
Although this water is treated before it makes it into rivers
like the Clyde here, some chemicals still get through
and the impact this has is that it can dissolve the scales
of some fish which are crucial in protecting them
from bacteria and parasites
Also, the chemicals from detergents can reduce the
oxygen levels in rivers and parts of the sea and this
threatens species like algae, which loads of marine
creatures depend on
A lot of these chemicals are removed and diluted by
the time they reach marine life
However, our skin soaks these chemicals up from
our clothes directly from the washing machine
so there are health issues for humans too
So with all these issues, surely there must be a
better option and I’m gonna take on the challenge of
trying to find a safer alternative to laundry
detergent that doesn’t harm the environment and that’s
also affordable
The first step I’m gonna take is to try and seek some
expert advice
So I’m just off to meet a woman called Susan who
runs a green cleaning company called Fresh Green Clean
to try and find out what non-toxic and affordable
alternatives to laundry detergent might exist
So I mean it’s just great what you’re doing already, you know
asking the questions and getting out there and tryna
find answers. If you go into any
supermarket now
you will find brands that are marketed as being ‘green’ or
‘eco-friendly’, but these tend to be really expensive
So it means that that kind of eco lifestyle, people that
want to live a greener way, it’s not really available for
everybody and I feel quite sad about that
And that’s why I always make my own product and I really
encourage other people to make their own products at
home because you know exactly what you’re getting
We can all live lower toxin lives for our health but also
have a much lighter environmental impact
with the things that we put in our household products
I’m so surprised about how little I had to spend to
get the ingredients for this
So I’ve got my soda crystals my bicarbonate of soda
my plain soap, my salt and vinegar. And to get all of this
I only had to spend £4.60
and that’s much cheaper than what I’d usually buy
Now this is all you really need but I did spend an extra
£6 to get this essential oil, which helps make your clothes
smell better and this bottle will last for months
So now I’ve got my ingredients, I think
I'm ready to give the recipe a go
The first thing I’ve got to do, is to grate a bar of plain
unscented soap as finely as possible
Then, get a big mixing bowl and add
All that needs done now is to give it a good stir and
for each washing machine load, add two tablespoons
of this mixture
What you can also do for added softness and to
remove excess soap is to add half a cup of vinegar
And don’t worry, this won’t leave you smelling like a chippy
My clothes are super clean and they smell great
It’s been fantastic to discover how easy and affordable it is
to find alternatives to laundry detergents
Now I was a wee bit dubious at first, especially when I was
putting vinegar into my washing machine
But I’m so happy with the results and I’m really excited
to keep doing this in future
Now you can also buy eco-friendly detergents
in the supermarket, but if you wanna make sure you
know exactly what you’re putting into the environment
the best thing is to make it yourself
And you only have to do this once and you’ll have
loads of detergent to last you several weeks
So even through putting in just a little bit of effort
you can make such an important contribution
to lessening the impact that we have on the natural world