5 tips: washing clothes in an environmentally friendly way

How do you better balance the need for clean clothes with the environment when doing laundry? And take care of your clothes at the same time? With these environmentally friendly 5 tips.

We Swiss wash an average of around 300 kg – per capita and year. That's about 220 washes. With 40 to 70 liters of water per drum, that's quite a lot. And that only applies to newer washing machines, with older ones it is up to 180 liters per wash. Although washing clothes accounts for "just" 12% of water consumption in the average household, there are savings potential with a few simple tricks. Because it is not only important to reduce water consumption, but also electricity consumption and the pollution of waste water.

1st tip: The lower the washing temperature, the better

A widespread washing recommendation is: Wash normally soiled clothing at 40 degrees, heavily soiled at 60 degrees. However , 20-30 degrees is enough for lightly and normally soiled laundry, 60-degree laundry can be washed at 40 degrees . Detergents develop their full cleaning power at these temperatures. Washing at 30 degrees instead of 60 saves around 2/3 of electricity per wash.

By the way: we originally communicated 40 degrees as the care instructions for our LEGNA T-shirts made from wood fibers . We will adjust this to 30 degrees for the next generation.

2nd tip: Choose sustainable detergent

When it comes to detergents, you should only use products that are free of microplastics, readily biodegradable and come in recycled packaging. The washing strips from our friends from the Swiss startup bluu meet all these criteria.The bluu washing strips offer many advantages: more space at home, no towing, no sticky containers or annoying powder on the floor. Dosing is super easy: 1 strip for 1 wash load. Such washing strips are super practical for white, dark or colored laundry from 15 - 95 degrees.



We at team Muntagnard are already excited. And the wash strips not only convince us from a sustainability perspective: the variant "Alpenfrische" even reminds us of our beloved Graubünden mountains when doing the laundry. So good!

Check out the bluu website

Tip 3: Skip the tumbler

Air drying is always the better choice! Going without the dryer is probably the most important decision when it comes to reducing energy consumption and keeping clothes in good shape.

4th tip: Less is more

Washing clothes after each use is often more a matter of habit than hygiene. Less washing slows down color fading and clothing "aging". Many items of clothing only need to be aired and shaken out well in order to be wearable again. And many stains can be treated with a spot treatment. This is not unhygienic, but relieves both the laundry basket and the wallet. Pro tip: When washing, turn the clothes inside out. This way they remain nice much longer.

5th tip: Wear plastic-free clothing

With clothing that contains polyester - therefore plastic - microplastics get into the water with every wash, which is environmentally harmful for water and soil. Did you know that many brands rely on a bio-based main material such as cotton, but not on the sewing thread and laundry label? Unfortunately, nowadays it is the norm to rely on polyester. That's why we use the same bio-based material for the entire garment (fabric, label, sewing thread). Our LEGNA t-shirt was even the first certified plastic-free garment in the world according to flustix.com . A sewing thread or laundry label made of polyester does not lead to significant microplastic pollution, but it is a hindrance to the reuse/recycling of the products.



Would you like more washing tips? Be sure to check out the blog from bluu .