FYI Eco-friendly Wash-day Alternatives

Laundry: in our foremothers’ day it was women’s work that was
never done – washing day was a huge deal for a long time. That
started to change with the invention of the washing machine.
Nowadays, with the fully digitalized machines we use, laundry
has become a virtual no-brainer in recent years.

However, with increasing awareness of power usage, water
consumption and the biodegradability of washing powders,
laundry has once again become an issue. While laundry may
have broken women’s backs a hundred years ago, these days
it is helping to trash our beloved planet! Most people still use
regular powders with enzymes and bleach from the supermarket.
These highly suspect chemicals are laying waste to the last of
our clean water supply and taking out many animal and plant
communities on the way. To say nothing of the effect they’re
having on our bodies!

Is there an alternative to all this?

YES! Here I’m going to look into some of the innovative,
safe and effective ways to get the washing clean!

For a start there are a good many brands which now produce
eco-friendly liquids and powders such as Ecostore, Ecover and
B_E_E. These products are biodegradable, low allergy formulas
that are used the same way as conventional detergents.

We also have two new laundry alternatives in stock which
we are very excited to able to offer to you!

Global Soap Soapnuts are the dried fruit of the Sapindus
mukorossi tree. The outer shell is very high in natural saponins,
a substance used by the plant as an insect deterrent and which
happens to also form soap! As they come from trees, Soapnuts
not only are produced non-toxically but the trees help the
planet just by growing. Soapnuts work as well as ecological
detergents on most laundry. The addition of washing soda will
boost removal of heavy stains. They are a natural fabric softener.
Soapnuts are 100% natural, non-allergenic and non-polluting.
They can be used in the dishwasher too.

Global Soap also produces a stain-removal bar and natural
oxygen-based bleach. The nuts can be made into a liquid quite
easily and this can be used as shampoo and hand soap which is
very good for dandruff, eczema and other skin conditions.

Envirodisc Activated Ceramic Laundry Discs are an exciting
new technology developed in Japan over 14 years. The three
recycled plastic discs contain special ceramic pellets which
ionise the water reducing surface tension and allowing the
water molecules to penetrate much deeper into fabric fibres
to remove dirt and stains.

Envirodiscs work best in warm water and are a natural fabric
softener. They will last for up to 700 washes! Some of the
pellets contain silver and copper which are anti-bacterial.
The discs have been tested and have proven very effective
against many common household germs. The discs do not
leave any residue in clothes such as you get with detergents.
Grey water from laundry washed with the discs can safely
be used on your garden. Envirodiscs are completely safe,
anti-allergenic, 100% free of pollutants and work out at
2-3 times cheaper than using detergent.