The last couple of tips focused on people with cars or yards, but this one is for everyone. The next time you run low on laundry detergent, switch to laundry sheets. These are exactly what they sound like—sheets of laundry detergent. Rather than pouring in liquid detergent or using laundry pods, simply toss in a sheet, add your clothes, and wash as usual.
I confess, I was skeptical about laundry sheets. Could they really work as well as more traditional forms of detergent? I decided to test some out and have been delighted with the results. Our clothes get just as clean, and our water and carbon footprints dropped as a result. The sheets come in a recyclable cardboard box that completely removes plastic from the equation. What could be easier?
One note: it’s essential that you put the laundry sheets in the bottom of the washer, before you add your clothes. If it goes on top, it won’t dissolve properly and you’ll have a mess. But used correctly, laundry sheets are an easy way to make a difference.
Less water
Liquid detergents are mostly water, but that’s not the ingredient that gets your clothes clean. Laundry sheets are super concentrated doses of detergent, and using them reduces your water footprint.
If you’re not familiar with the concept of a water footprint, it’s the sum total of the water used to create the products we use—from manufacturing to agriculture1—and I guarantee your footprint is larger than you’d expect. With extreme drought affecting large areas, it’s more important than ever to find ways to reduce the amount of water we both use and pollute.
Less weight
I use ECOS detergent, so I’m going to use that as an example here. (I’m not affiliated with ECOS and don’t get any kind of fee for mentioning them here—I’m just a fan of their products.) One box of laundry sheets contains 57 sheets, enough for 57 loads of laundry. The total weight of that detergent is just 7 ounces—less than half a pound!
A 100-fluid-ounce bottle of their liquid detergent weighs 6.6 pounds, and the vast majority of that weight is water. If you look at the amount of detergent needed to wash a single load of laundry (one ounce of liquid vs. one sheet), liquid detergent weighs 8.5 times more. The bottle also takes up much more physical space: 350 cubic inches versus 66 cubic inches for a box of laundry sheets.
Why does all this matter? It has a huge impact on carbon emissions during shipping.
Less carbon
Fuel efficiency depends on how much weight a truck is hauling, and when most of that weight is unnecessary water, the truck uses more fuel and effectively transports less product.2 Five boxes of laundry sheets can fit into the same physical space inside that truck as a single plastic bottle of liquid detergent. That’s 285 loads of laundry versus 100. And those five boxes weigh one-third as much as the bottle, reducing the amount of fuel required to transport them.
There’s a movement to remove water from other products as well, including shampoo and toothpaste. If everyone made the switch, the carbon output of trucking fleets would decrease dramatically while transporting more goods. I haven’t tried these other products yet; if you have, please let me know what you think of them.
If you like One Simple Thing, please forward to a friend who might be interested in taking steps toward a healthier planet!