March 26, 2022

Plastic-Free Laundry

Washing your clothes can come with the obvious plastics, like those big plastic jugs of liquid detergent. But did you know your clothes could be shedding microplastics into our waterways? Here’s how to make your laundry is plastic-free.

Choose Natural Fiber Clothes

A study found that a single load of laundry can release 700,000 microfibers into our water.

If your clothes are made from natural fibers like cotton, silk, hemp, or linen, then those fibers will degrade over time. But if your clothes are made from synthetic fibers like polyester, acrylic, or nylon, these are petroleum-based fabrics and are essentially plastic. This means when these fibers shed off clothes and wash down the drain, it’s adding more plastic into our water.

So, when you’re replacing clothes that are worn out or looking for new (or new to you) clothes, check the tag and make sure it’s made from a natural fiber.

Wash Your Clothes Less

Another way to avoid microplastics from washing down the drain, is to wash your clothes less. If it’s not stained, give it a smell. If it smells fine, then hang it back up or fold it and put it back in the drawer. You don’t need to wash your clothes every time you wear them–except for underwear. Please wash your underwear every time you use them.

In general, the items closest to your body should be washed more often. So, underwear gets washed every time but your hoodie or jeans would get washed after 3 – 10 wears depending on your activity. Or if you sweat a lot in your gym clothes, then yes, please wash it.

Filter the Fibers

Ok, so you have a full load of laundry that needs to be washed and the majority of the clothes are made from synthetic fibers. If you want to prevent most of those fibers from washing down the drain, you can attach a microplastics filter to your washing machine. Think of it as a lint trap for your washer. I say “most” because no filter is perfect. This filter will get the majority of them.

If you only have a few items that are made from synthetic fibers and don’t feel handy, you can use a bag designed to catch microfibers. This bag will catch less of the fibers than the washing machine filter, but it’s better than nothing.

Another option is to toss a Cora Ball in the wash which will catch the loose threads.

Dry Laundry Detergents

So, you have a filtering option in place, awesome! Now for the detergent. For dry detergent, if you can still find powder in a cardboard box, great! Almost every brand of eco-friendly, fragrance-free detergent I’ve used in the past stopped selling powdered detergent in a cardboard box. This was a bummer since my younger daughter has eczema and is sensitive to various detergents. This is what I used to use.

Now, I use laundry strips that come in a paper envelope. There are a few brands of laundry strips including Tru Earth and Earth Breeze.

There are also detergent packets similar to dishwashing packets. These come in a cardboard box. There have been reports that say there’s still some plastic in these but this study refutes that claim.

Laundry Soap is Not Detergent

If you’ve scrolled on Pinterest, I’m sure you’ve seen a recipe for DIY laundry soap and how it saves so much money. DON’T DO IT! I made my own “laundry soap” for a while until I read “101 Ways to Go Zero Waste” by Kathryn Kellogg where she explains the difference between soap and detergent. She also went into the details of how this soap can gunk up your washing machine and cause an oily build up on your clothes.

I had used laundry soap for months and realized that while they would come out of the wash smelling clean, they would smell dingy after drying and would feel oily. I know now that’s because there was basically a build up of soap on my clothes.

Kathryn breaks it down further in this post. Long story short, don’t make laundry soap at home!

Get Your Fill

Maybe dried detergent isn’t your jam. That’s cool. Try getting liquid laundry detergent at your local refill store or order refills from a place like The Refill Shoppe:

They’ll mail you a reuse pouch and when you’re finished (or if you dump the liquids in your own container), you mail it back to them in a pre-paid pouch. When they receive it back, they will clean and sterilize it before refilling it!

Let Your Clothes Hang Out

Finally, if it’s not rainy, hang your clothes outside to dry. The sunlight helps sterilize your clothes and it saves money and electricity! If you don’t have enough room for a clothes line, pick up a drying rack. I use two of these collapsible racks to dry my clothes.