Super Eco

Typically, there are no laundry days in my world, only laundry minutes stretching into laundry hours all in service of avoiding the laundry mountain, which is a trip hazard as well as an eye-sore. These stolen laundry moments take place on the second floor of my house in a tiny closet-sized room with poor ventilation and suspect air quality.  And I'll spare you the olfactory description: I suspect you already know about that.

My family, like many others, likes to launder  everything into oblivion, believing that to "clean" something will hammer out all the unsureness and overwhelmed angst of daily living, or at least daily laundering. For example, most developed countries don't use dryers with such impugnity. When my British friend asked about the location of our laundry line and I showed her the modest couple of feet reserved for the hanging of unmentionables she asked, "So you use the dryer for all of your laundering then?" I shrugged and supposed I did, which is further evidence of the need for this makeover. 

Onto laundry detergent. Most  laundry soaps on the shelves of our grocery or outlet stores, are filled with numerous problematic ingredients. Here is a quick summary of the worst offenders:

1. Phosphates - These little numbers damage waterways and eco-systems by creating conditions which foster algae blooms caused by the phosphate-riddled wastewater run-off in most municipal areas. Just try and drive around in the fog without your headlights and you'll know how fish and frogs must feel, with their little eyes all blocked by algae and other nonsense.

2. Sudsing agents - For many Americans, suds are like the attractive boyfriend with the latent anger problem:  they look like they're getting the job done, but really they're ripping you (and your world) into shreds. Suds may seem like they're productive when in fact all they're doing is sullying your probably mostly pristine body with random low-level toxins and carcinogens.

3. Fragrance - For those of you with crowded minds like mine,  you might benefit from this easy-to-remember motto: "fragrance is bad for the environment." Most cleaners and detergents (and cosmetics and soaps) have added whiteners or fragrance, which are in service to our illusory belief in the God of Clean.  These chemicals are only pretty on the outside. Inside they're wreaking havoc on our bodies and on the environment. Also, so you know, chemicals used to create fragrance are like the chemicals that ate Manhattan (or the Great Lakes) and are insoluble and like to settle in animals and soil.  Bad. In particular, watch out for galaxolide. 

5. Non-biodegradable - Loud, sweet smelling, garish tubs of detergent goo aren't only troubling because of their contents. Their packaging is big and ugly and filling up landfills faster than green crafters can turn them in to lampshades.  Biodegradable is also important on the content-side, so watch for all-around bio-degradability.  If we never added another smidge of anything to our waterways and soil and landfills, we'd already be overloaded.  Biodegradable detergents and soaps reduce our long-term impact on the planet, and often also contain far fewer chemical substances.

Getting these chemicals out of our lives seems wise and relatively straightforward. Out with the bad. In with the good.  So what are the cleaner, healthier alternatives to the old stand-bys?

Here are the 3 types we'll use this month.  Hopefully by the end of 30 days, a clear winner will emerge. And I have a feeling it won't be that big yellow house-sized vat from Costco.

1. Mrs. Meyers' - $11.99 Cost per load: 37 cents

2. Seventh Generation $10.99  Cost per load: 34 cents

3. Arm & Hammer Essentials $9.99  - Cost per load: 38 cents.  

On first inspection, Arm & Hammer is the hands-down loser. It smells like someone lit a Febreeze firecracker from Hell in my laundry room, whereas Mrs. Meyers' light lemony touch is subtle and non-headache-inducing.  

Report from the Laundry Trenches:

Two weeks later and we've got a winner!  My husband is our Laundry Master and this is his report:

We probably could win a stinky laundry award, our family. So these laundry detergents have a big challenge. And frankly, I have now
discovered that Mrs. Meyers Clean Day (with natural lemon verbena scent) does a better job than any amount of Tide  or Cheer I've ever
used.

Our clothes simply don't stink anymore. We live in the mossy northwest, so in addition to the regular phalanx of kid-generated smells in our laundry pile, we regularly contend with mildew and all of its accompanying joys.

Mrs. Meyers, I'm impressed

Seventh Generation takes a close second, but doesn't leave the clothes smelling quite as nice (admittedly a personal preference).

The Arm & Hammer is okay, but has a slightly cloying fragrance, and its higher cost-per-load (than Meyers or SG) makes it trail as a
distant third to the other two we tried.

Keep up with more 30-Day Eco-Makeover!

• Makeup
• Lotion
• Diapers
• Plastic ware 
• Garbage/recycling

 

For a list of more eco-friendly cleaners go here.

[Photo Credit: Flickr ferrous)