Many households are increasing conscious on the effect that their actions may have on the environment. According to some research, aftercare of a garment – i.e. washing and drying at home, accounts for some 75% of the energy used in the lifecycle of a garment, so it is not surprising that home laundering is one of the areas that people are interested in seeing how they can reduce their impact on the environment.

Washing At a Lower Temperature

HLCC always recommends that for best cleaning you wash your clothes at the temperature shown on the care label. However, in many cases where a garment really only needs to refreshed rather than cleaned it is ok to wash at 30 C.

Both the leading detergent companies have advice on washing at 30°C as do Marks & Spencer. See the following sites for further details:

http://www.persil.com/thirtyDegreesWashing.aspx

http://www.doagoodturn.co.uk/index.php

http://plana.marksandspencer.com/index.php?action=PublicPillarStoryDetailDisplay&pillar_id=1&story_id=35

Drying

Natural drying on a line or rack etc will reduce the amount of energy used in the aftercare process. However, it is not always practical, especially with British weather, and therefore many people use tumble driers. As with all domestic machinery buying a dryer that has a good energy rating will help to ensure you are using energy in the most efficient way.

Water

Water is a precious commodity. In order to help minimize your usage try the following:

Always wash a full load
Pre-washing is not need for most garments
If you have a condenser dry reuse the water – its great in irons