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Cleaning Up is Choking Out Mother Nature

The impact of climate change is becoming more severe. As new temperature records are set, we’re becoming more mindful of our personal environmental impact. If you’re worried about your impact, the best place to focus your efforts is on the things we mindlessly use and toss in the garbage.

Clean Clothes, Dirty Planet

It’s a chore the average American household mindlessly completes (hopefully) every week. If we want to dress to impress, we need to keep our closet full of clean, fresh smelling clothes, which requires the average family to do roughly 300 loads of laundry every year.

 

Tossing an empty plastic laundry detergent jug into the trash is part of a toxic cycle that is literally choking out mother nature, because they are made from non-reusable materials that take decades to break down, taking up massive space in landfills around the country – assuming they make it there.

 

Unfortunately, these plastics are clogging our waterways and polluting oceans around the world. Plastic containers are among the most common items found when cleaning up waterways to restore the environments aquatic wildlife call home. 

 

If we can eliminate plastic laundry jugs from our lives, the planet would enjoy 900 million less jugs being discarded to spend decades taking up space and contaminating our waterways.

Cleaner Clothes, Happier Planet

Thankfully, there is an answer. By engaging with brands that offer biodegradable packaging and plastic-free products, we can use elements of mother nature to get the job done in a responsible, sustainable way.

 

Some who are resistant to change point out that they recycle their plastics, but according to Good Laundry, “…only about 5-8% of those plastics are actually recycled!” The vast majority end up in landfills or harming the places wildlife call home.

 

Therefore, multiple brands have made the commitment to create sustainable solutions to replace the environmentally harmful items in our daily lives. If you’re ready to do your part, consider using natural alternatives in your laundry room, like detergent strips made of natural materials that completely dissolve in your washer to keep your clothes clean without injecting toxic chemicals (like formaldehyde) into your laundry routine.

Clean Floors, Clogged Landfills

In 1999, Swiffer proudly claims, they changed the way America cleans its floors, forever. While the technological advance was exciting, it injected yet another disposable piece of plastic that can’t be recycled into our daily lives.

 

According to environmental sustainability experts, Swiffer’s one-time-use cleaning pads are not compostable and incorporate plastic elements that have shown to be harmful to the environment. They cannot be recycled, so when you toss the dirt in the trash, you’re sticking mother nature with the long-term bill.

Mother Nature is Mopping Up

It might feel like going back in time, but old school mopping has received an environmentally friendly facelift. A single mop can be used for months before requiring replacement. That’s great news, but it gets better!

 

When selecting a reusable mop to clean your floors, pay attention to the materials used to construct it. Eco-friendly mops are constructed from sustainable materials, like wood handles instead of plastic, and natural fibers that can be composted or recycled once they’ve finished serving your household.

Keep your household clean without clogging up landfills, waterways and spaces wildlife need to thrive.

Single-use plastics are clogging up waterways and crowding out landfills across the country. Seek out products that are not produced with harmful plastics, like ​​high-density polyethylene (HPDE). These elements do not belong in our homes, or the places wildlife call home.

The best part is switching to sustainable alternatives doesn’t have to be more expensive. In fact, it can be less expensive and far more convenient – especially if you’re tired of lugging heavy laundry jugs home from the store, only to make a mess in your laundry room.

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