New Year New luck? Definitely a good opportunity to rethink old habits and try new things. Like using regular laundry detergent, for example, which is far more polluting than most people might imagine. We'll tell you why.
The Swiss population does around 220 wash cycles per capita per year, which corresponds to around 22 liters of detergent per person with 100 ml of detergent per wash cycle. The right detergent is therefore crucial if you want to protect the environment.
Questionable ingredients in detergents
Many ingredients in detergents pollute the environment. A lot is filtered out in the sewage treatment plant, but some non-degradable substances get into our water bodies through the wastewater and cause various kinds of damage there.
The following ingredients in particular are harmful and not recommended.
preservatives
Many liquid detergents contain preservatives that inhibit the spread of bacteria and thus make the detergent last longer. These biocides are not broken down in the sewage treatment plant and damage microorganisms in the water.
microplastics and plastic
Microplastics are one of the biggest environmental problems of our time. The smallest plastic and liquid plastics, so-called polymers, are used in detergents to reduce discoloration, for example. They get into the environment and oceans almost unfiltered and cause great damage . The consequences for humans are not yet foreseeable.
You can find out more about microplastics in washing on our blog .
synthetic surfactants
Many detergents rely on synthetic surfactants obtained from petroleum or palm oil, a non-renewable and therefore unecological raw material. Although only fully biodegradable surfactants can be used in detergents today, their degradation products can also be harmful to the environment.
fragrances
Most detergents smell pleasant and fresh. This also has disadvantages: many of the fragrances used are not biodegradable and are toxic to some aquatic organisms.
fillers
Fillers are used, particularly in large detergent bottles, to extend the detergent. They also promote solubility and dosability.
However, fillers have absolutely no influence on the washing effect, but on the environment: They are not filtered in the sewage treatment plants, are not biodegradable and lead to salinization of the water.
Detergent packaging that ends up in the trash
The packaging in which the detergent is also very harmful to the environment : it is also made of PET, but does not belong in the “normal” PET collection. They must be disposed of separately. Because of this, many of these bottles end up in the trash for convenience and are not recycled.
Stain removers, fabric softeners and Co.
The many auxiliaries that are used in addition to detergents have not yet been mentioned at all, such as fabric softeners or stain removers.
softener
Here, too , the contained fragrances pollute the environment because they are not degradable and are toxic to aquatic organisms .
stain remover
Many stain removers are really chemical bludgeons so that they remove stains most efficiently. Surfactants, fragrances and bleaches are also often used here. Our stain soap is chemical free and doesn't harm our planet.
Less is more
Washing is more natural and above all much more environmentally friendly.
Our bluu washing strips are completely biodegradable, you can recycle the packaging with your waste paper and cardboard. And you can also get rid of your stains easily and in an environmentally friendly way with our new stain soap.
So if you haven't switched yet, it's high time to try it out and get rid of old habits.
You can find out more about sustainable washing on our blog .
