GREEN WASHING

‘Green detergents’ were one of the first ‘green’ products on the market. Their main selling points were ‘no phosphates’ and good biodegradability. This was in response to detergents being partly responsible for algae blooms, which used up oxygen in the waterways and killed fish.

But today’s big brand detergents don’t contain phosphates and have dramatically improved on their biodegradability. So when I asked the water authorities about detergent waste, they said that there wasn’t much to be concerned about – they get a far bigger headache from water running off farmland, which is contaminated with fertilisers and animal waste.

The biggest impact of laundering your clothes is the amount of energy used – both in washing and drying. So you want to choose a detergent that washes well at low temperatures – I rarely go above 30C for my washes. Essentially this means choosing biological detergents because the enzymes help cleaning without the need for heat. And the simple advice for drying is to avoid a dryer – hang your washing on a washing line, a pulley airer or a drying rack. I don’t even iron my clothes – I just give them a good shake when I hang them out!