Green Move of the Week: Laundry Detergent

It's exciting to hear from readers who are starting to make small "green" changes in their lives—some as a result of what I've posted here, others as a result of their growing awareness of why it makes sense to adopt a greener lifestyle for our health, pocketbooks, and the environment. (I'm particularly excited to hear that Conservative Grandmom is on the green bandwagon in Florida!)

As such, I've decided to begin posting a Green Move of the Week. The first reason is, of course, that this reminds me to keep making changes in my own life. The other reason is that this (hopefully) gives you a small dose of motivation to make a change—I'll keep them easy, promise!—each week along with me.

The first change this week is greening your laundry detergent.

How easy is it? Just buy a different kind of detergent when your current bottle runs out.

Why should you do it? Many detergents are loaded with fragrances, which can cause skin irritation and irritate allergies in some people. Plus chemicals called phthalates that are common in fragrance formulas have been shown to harm hormonal systems and reproductive organs (no thanks). Although most manufacturers now offer fragrance-free options (and have eliminated the phosphates, which damaged waterways by causing algae blooms), there are still reasons to opt for green detergents. For one, you can be confident that you're wearing clothing washed in fewer chemicals. And you're purchasing a product that isn't petroleum-based (we're supposed to be reducing on reliance on petroleum, people). Plus, typically green detergents come in recycled packaging that can also be recycled once you're finished with it.

My story. When I did laundry in the dingy basement of my first post-college apartment building, I switched to Seventh Generation Free & Clear laundry detergent. But once I started doing Conservative Boy's laundry too in exchange for the use of the machines in the house he lived in, the "green" laundry detergent fell by the wayside because C.B. (of course) requested that I use the same laundry detergent his mom did so his clothes smelled the same. (You all better be rolling your eyes here—I know I am at the thought that I actually gave in to that request!)

When we moved here, I wanted to switch back to Seventh Generation, but as luck would have it I couldn't find it in L-Town. So I settled for this:

It's Tide Coldwater, which is marketed as a way to save energy and money because it's formulated for use with cold-water washing (which you're doing now, right?). Mostly I bought it because it's concentrated and comes in a smaller bottle than most Tide products, and I figured I might as well buy detergent formulated for my cold-water washing, even though I'm pretty sure you can use any detergent you want when you wash clothes in cold water and it will work just fine. (Yep, I'm still a sucker for a bit of greenwashing every now and then.)

Anyhow. Miracle of all miracles, one of the grocery stores in town is remodeling—and in the process it has added a shelf of Seventh Generation products. So I decided it was time to go back. Previously, I was using the detergent free of all dyes and fragrances. But because C.B. likes his laundry-fresh scent, I decided to give this a try:

It's Seventh Generation's "blue eucalyptus and lavender" detergent. (I'm a sucker for anything lavender.)

This product is ultra concentrated (the cap you pour the detergent into is at least half the size of those used on traditional bottles). According to Seventh Generation, if every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of petroleum-based liquid laundry detergent with the bottle I have here, we could save 233,000 barrels of oil. (That's enough to heat and cool 13,400 U.S. homes for a year.) Beyond the fact this detergent is plant-based rather than petroleum-based, it's also nontoxic, biodegradable, free of dyes and phosphates, and not tested on animals. And you can even use your clothes washer water on your plants if you use this detergent and have a graywater system (more about these someday soon). Oh, and those fragrances come from plant essences, rather than artificial fragrances concocted in a lab.

Go a step further. Buying powder laundry detergent is better still—liquid detergents are made mostly of water and require more energy to produce and package than powder detergents. I, however, haven't switched to powder yet. I tried it once and had a few bad experiences with powder-covered clothes after the fact, so I haven't been brave enough to go back yet. If you use it now or are making the switch to it, let me know (and remind me why I should switch too).

Not sure which green detergents to try? Check out Grist's reviews of some of the most popular options. And stay tuned next week for another green move of the week!