Go Green: Laundry

One of the easiest ways to go green starts right at home! If you’re anything like me, you wash clothes multiple times a week. However, it has been proven that regular laundry detergents are really bad for the environment. Detergents are full of harmful chemicals and ingredients that harm aquatic ecosystems. They compromise the gills and immune systems of fish.

Don’t fret though! I’ve compiled a list of all green, fish friendly, fresh smelling laundry detergents that you can stock up on next time you run out – because it’s just as harmful to the environment to waste the ones you have to buy new ones.

Soap Nuts

Soap nuts are one of the newest alternatives – and my personal favorite. They’re all natural, reusable, and fairly cheap! When you’re finished with them – and you can use a few ounces up to ten washes – you can compost them. They’re not actually soap, however. Instead of lye, a required ingredient in soap, these nuts – which are actually dried berries – naturally contain a cleaning chemical called saponin. 

Now, it wouldn’t be fair of me to only talk about the good qualities of soap nuts. Yes, they’re cheap. Yes, you can just pop them in your wash and then throw them away. But, there is one main problem with them: they only work in hot water.

Yes, my fellow eco warriors, you read that right. Hot water! You may be thinking “doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of trying to go green?”. But fear not, there is an option if you’re really into soap nuts but not so much wasting tons of energy. Many users have said that, if you boil the soap nuts and then pour that into the wash, it works just the same.

All Natural Laundry Detergent

Now, sadly, I can’t take credit for the environmental genius you’re about to read; Heather over at mommypotamus gets all the credit for this one.

Most DIY laundry detergents contain Borax. That’s a really nasty chemical – one I personally don’t want on my skin. However, there is an all natural detergent recipe – sans Borax. You can find Heather’s recipe here: https://www.mommypotamus.com/homemade-natural-laundry-detergent-made-easy/

These are the only brandless options I have found. Feel free to let me know your favorites or experiences with soap nuts and DIY detergent!