Guide · 4 min read
Cleaning and laundry, minus the microplastics
Most cleaning products are water sold in plastic jugs, and every synthetic wash sheds hundreds of thousands of fibres.
Cleaning products are mostly water shipped in plastic, and laundry is one of the biggest sources of microfibres entering waterways. A single wash can release over 700,000 of them. Two shifts fix most of it: refillable concentrates instead of disposable jugs, and a gentler approach to the wash itself.
Cut the laundry microfibres
How you wash matters as much as what you wash. Run full loads, cooler and less often, and lean toward natural fibres, all of which cut shedding. Swap single-use dryer sheets for wool dryer balls, which soften clothes and trim drying time without plastic or synthetic fragrance.
Refill, don't rebuy
Reusable bottles with dissolvable cleaning tablets, a concentrated dish-soap bar, and laundry strips or powder in a steel tin remove the parade of plastic jugs from under your sink. You also stop paying to ship water around the country.
Clean Essentials Kit (bottles + tablets)
Dish Soap Bar
Laundry Detergent Strips (32 loads)
Laundry Powder in Steel Tin (64 loads)
Swap the sponges and cloths
Plastic sponges and paper towels are constant throwaways, and plastic scrubbers shed as they wear. Swedish dishcloths replace roll after roll of paper towel and compost at end of life, while cellulose-and-walnut sponges skip the plastic foam.
Common questions
- Do refillable cleaning tablets clean as well as spray bottles?
- Yes. You are simply not paying to ship pre-mixed water. The tablet dissolves into the same cleaning solution in your reusable bottle, so performance is identical.
- How do I cut microfibres if I already own synthetic clothes?
- Wash full loads on cooler, shorter cycles, line-dry where you can, and wash less often. A microfibre-catching wash bag or an in-machine filter captures a good share of what does shed.
- Are wool dryer balls better than dryer sheets?
- Yes. They soften clothes and cut drying time by bouncing warm air through the load, with no single-use plastic or synthetic fragrance, and a set lasts for years.
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