Laundry Detergent

We have a lot of household products that make our house smell and look cleaner. But as you can imagine they are made of chemicals and products that might not be the best for the environment. We have bleaches, disinfectants, glass cleaners, abrasive detergents, multipurpose cleaners, and so much more we could look at in detail. For now, I want to start with something small and something that doesn't get much credit; laundry detergent.

1 | LAUNDRY DETERGENT AND THE PLANET

Why are detergents different from soap? To begin the structure of these molecules are very similar, however, one is biodegradable and the other is not. Soap is made from naturally sourced ingredients like oils and fragrances, whereas, detergents are synthesized and made of chemicals. The chemicals that make up these detergents are what stay in our environment harming it and the creatures that reside there. 

Let’s first talk about phosphate. Phosphate is made up of phosphorus and oxygen, both two natural elements that are needed for plant, animal, and human life. Recalling on that basic biology knowledge (we love that highschool biology), phosphate plays a huge role in transferring energy at a molecular level and you may know it in the famous ATP. Now even though phosphate is an organic compound, it can have some nasty effects on our aquatic ecosystems. When detergent is used, the excess detergent gets sucked down our drains and ends up in various places. Some of these places happen to be aquatic ecosystems such as lakes, rivers, ponds, and of course the ocean. When phosphorus becomes abundant in these ecosystems they increase algae growth. Now that may not seem that bad but algae is like an underwater weed, and a sassy one at that. The increase algae growth will  consume the available oxygen, taking it away from the other plant and animal life in the ecosystem, causing it to die. 

Next we'll talk about Surfactants. Surfactants are used in detergents to help pull out the dirt hiding in our clothes or the stains on our dishes. There are various studies on the effects of surfactants on aquatic plant and animal life as well as the effects of surfactants on humans. Although nothing is completely concrete, there are findings that suggest that increased concentration in surfactants in ecosystems can be deadly to aquatic animal life and be absorbed into their systems later being passed to us. However, one thing is for sure, surfactants are toxic even at low concentrations as they are not biodegradable and only break down into further toxic chemicals. 

Lastly, well look at some numbers. Laundry detergent, dish detergent, and other household cleaning containers are generally non recyclable. In 2017 alone, over 80 million tons of container waste was produced in the United States. All in all, detergents are harmful to the core, from their plastic containers to their synthesized chemicals.

2 | ANOTHER PROBLEM

We’ve figured out that laundry detergents can cause harmful impacts on our aquatic ecocsytsems but now we run into another problem. Not only does washing our clothes waste about 13,500 gallons of water a year per family, but the fabrics we are washing are also causing environmental impacts. 

I’m only going to briefly touch base on this topic as I have written a seperate blog post about the environmental impact of synthetic fabrics that I will link here. The main idea is that synthetic fabrics such as nylon, polyester, and rayon are made from plastic. These types of fabrics shed millions or microplastics when we wear AND wash them. Microplastics pollute our air, being inhaled by humans and animals alike. But they also pollute our ecosystems because as we wear them these tiny microplastics land in all sorts of places and don’t break down.

Check out my blog on Fashion to see how we can stop this problem.

3 | WHAT YOU CAN DO

So we’ve looked at the environmental impacts of laundry detergent but now what? How can we make a change knowing this information? Luckily for us, there are several alternative laundry detergents that are affordable and make your clothes smell amazing.

SOAP NUTS

About | Soap nuts are small round shells that contain saponin, a natural laundry detergent. They have a very fresh smell and can be reused up to 4 times for full effective washing!  You can find them mainly online for an extremely affordable price. 

LOVE HOME AND PLANET

About | I have talked about this brand several times and their amazing products. Love Beauty and Planet offers a variety of eco friendly alternatives to shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc. However, they also have a home supply section for household products. All of their products are extremely affordable and the packaging is used from recycled material.

Price Range | $12

BAKING SODA

About | Yup, you can actually just add a cup of baking soda to your load of laundry for fresh, whiter, and clean clothing. This is a really great alternative for people living on a budget or who have sensitive skin as baking soda is very gentle on our clothes and does not leave behind any additives or irritants.

4 | FINAL MESSAGE

I hope it has now become clear that almost everything we do has a negative environmental impact. On the other side of the moutain, we see that simple, affordable, and reasonable changes in our lifestyle can help out our planet and decrease these impacts. We can make a difference one step at a time, we only have to start.

Photograph by Max Rivera Patton