Can laundry detergent harm the environment?

If you’re keen to protect the environment, you’ll already be taking steps to mitigate your carbon footprint at home and to make more sustainable, eco-friendly choices in your daily life. Our homes are areas that can either be wonderfully ‘green’, or rack up damaging carbon emissions or environmental damage, depending on the products that we choose to use. With that in mind, let’s look at laundry detergent and consider its impact on the environment.

Is my laundry detergent eco-friendly?

The short answer is – maybe, but it depends on which one you use. Some laundry detergents are harmful to the environment and even harmful to your drain pipes, depending on the chemicals that they contain. When drainage experts such as https://www.drainpower.co.uk/drainage-services/cctv-drain-surveys/slough carry out CCTV drain surveys Slough, they can find that cleaning products containing caustic soda have caused damage to pipes and affected local green areas.

Chemical Issues

The trouble is that many standard detergents contain powerful chemicals such as phosphates. These can interact with other chemicals to either harm natural water systems or to create an imbalance in nature.

Some chemicals create an abundance of water algae which reduces the oxygen in water and renders it harmful to aquatic life. Others create surfactants that are designed to break down grease, but which harm fish. So there’s a strong chance that your laundry is actively harming the environment, even if it is lifting stains from your clothing.

A Better Choice

The good news is that there are eco-friendly laundry detergents that are kind to the environment whilst still cleaning your clothes effectively. You can identify these at your local grocery store as they contain clear labelling and information.

Look too for more natural handmade detergents. You can even make your own and store it in glass jars for a greener choice.

It’s easy to make a switch to kinder laundry detergent which does the job on your cleaning whilst preserving the environment. If you’ve not yet made the switch, now is the ideal time to do so, and lighten the environmental burden with more conscious consumer choices.