green it! Cleaner, greener laundry

By Ariel Tilson

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Just because you’re wasting your afternoon washing clothes doesn’t mean you have to waste natural resources.

The most environmentally friendly way to clean your clothes is probably the way your grandmother did it: with a bucket of hot water, lye soap and a clothesline. Fortunately, you don’t have to throw out your modern day laundry appliances to be green, just follow these tips.

1. Wash cycle

To conserve energy, Jennifer Wilber, grocery manager at The Merc, 901 Iowa St., says you should only use the cold water setting on your laundry machine. And, to conserve water, Wilber suggests you use the smallest cycle setting for your load of laundry, but wash as many clothes as you can in one load.

2. Dry it out

Kelli Brandt, customer service manager at The Merc, says when drying your clothes you should try to run the spin cycle twice to eliminate as much moisture as possible. She also says to plan your drying cycles close together so that you can reuse some of the residual heat.

3. Eco-friendly detergents

When buying laundry detergents, Wilber says you should buy in bulk and always read the labels to avoid any that contain phosphate, which is harmful to the environment. She says that ultra-concentrated detergents are best because less packaging means less weight has to be transported and less waste is left over.

Casey Millstein, co-owner of The Casbah Market, 803 Massachusetts St., says Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Laundry Detergent is the store’s best-selling green brand because of its pleasing scent and affordability.

You can use any of these tips to free yourself from the eco-guilt that comes with using the washing machine.

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