Zero Waste Laundry Detergents (the best brands)
Greenscents is a wonderful eco-cleaning company, everything is vegan-friendly with no palm oil, made with natural ingredients, not tested on animals and sold in refillable bottles, which also saves you money! Everything is also made in Somerset with Exmoor water.
Greenscents Laundry Liquid is made with organic ingredients, using soap nuts (don’t compost these as they contain natural insecticides) and shikakai pods. This family-friendly formula is non-biological and free from enzymes and synthetic additives. The scent-free Nonscents option is ideal for baby and pet bedding, pregnancy/nursing and people with allergies.
Use code GSENGLANDNATURALLY for 15% off entire order (minimum purchase £20)
Also in bulk form, there is also a Nonscents range, ideal for pregnancy/nursing, cleaning near babies/pets (or for their bedding and bowls) and for allergies. All scents are naturally derived, and items are also certified organic.
To use, just pop 4 to 5 teaspoons of liquid into the machine for a standard wash. You may need less for a quick wash, or more for areas with hard water (London, south east, Norfolk). You can also use it for hand-washing, use 20 to 25ml in a bowl of warm to hot water. Store in a cool place away from sunlight.
If you use the laundry conditioner, it’s one of the few brands without palm oil. However, avoid for cloth nappies and period pads (and soft towels) as it may reduce absorbency. Also don’t use on children’s clothing or fire-retardant clothing, as fabric conditioners can increase flammability in tumble dryers.
Launder at higher temperatures for babies, pet bedding and weak immunity. For synthetic fabrics, use a microfiber filter, to stop microplastics leaching from machines, into the sea. For hand-washing, use a sink filter. For stains, use natural oxygen bleach (below).
Never use chlorine bleach (nor mix any kind of bleach with vinegar, it causes toxic gases).
How does the refill scheme work?
You can buy 500ml glass amber bottles (don’t handle with wet hands) for everyday use (and retail sale). Then you can buy refillable items in 5 litre and 20 litre containers. Just return empties for sanitising and reuse, as simple as that! You can buy bundle sets to save money, with the refills included with your first order.
Use with one-time purchase pumps for easy use and refilling.
Bio-D Fragrance Free laundry liquid
Bio-D fragrance free laundry liquid is the brand you’re most likely to find in health shops and farm shops, sold with refills and bulk options.
You can also buy this as laundry powder in brown paper bags. Also in larger 1kg bags.
You don’t need fabric conditioner
If you use it, avoid for cloth nappies and period pads (and soft towels) as it may reduce absorbency. Also don’t use on children’s clothing or fire-retardant clothing, as fabric conditioners can increase flammability in tumble dryers.
You can soften clothes, simply by adding half a cup of cleaning vinegar to the rinse cycle (it breaks down detergent build-up and neutralises odours, without leaving a flammable coating). Or if you don’t have any to hand, do the same with bicarbonate-of-soda (just add half a cup to the wash cycle).
Where to recycle laundry products
If you have some toxic products that you no longer wish to use, don’t pour them down the sink, as this can harm waterways. You can recycle empty containers with household waste.
With bottles still containing product, your council should be able to collect via the hazardous waste department. The fact that this is where they should be taken, is good reason to switch to a more natural brand!
Miniml refillable laundry liquids
Miniml Laundry Liquid are the ideal swap to keep on hand, for machine or hand washing, to remove dirt and stains, whilst being soft on skin. Made with biodegradable ingredients (including Yorkshire water – even the scents are naturally derived), these are vegan-friendly and not tested on animals, and sold in bottles that you can send back to be refilled!
These are concentrated, so a little goes a long way. At end of use, you can get the bottles refilled at stores that sell them, or use the QR code to send off empty bottles for refilling, and return.
The starter bottles are 500ml, and the refill bottles will last 165 washes!
To use, pour into machine dispenser (30, 50 or 50ml for light, medium or heavy loads. For hand wash, dilute 1 to 2 capfuls in a bowl of warm water. Submerge, and agitate the water and detergent with your hands, and soak items up to 30 minutes, before rinsing.
Choose from:
- Fresh Linen
- Tropical Coconut
Miniml is a fresh new eco cleaning brand, started by two young entrepreneurs, who struggled to find household products that did not irritate the co-founder’s sensitive skin. So they decided to create something better, mixing formulas in the garage, until they came up with products that worked.
Still based in its own factory in Yorkshire (creating local jobs), the range is sold nationwide to shops, hotels and restaurants (there is no minimum orders on business accounts). There are discounts for regular subscriptions, and students.
Allavare (just 4 ingredients, and oxygen bleach)
Allavare is a beautiful little brand, which keeps things simple. By only offering three products. And although you can buy them separately, it makes sense to buy the affordable starter bundle which gives enough laundry powder and oxygen bleach for 60 washes, a stain removal bar and a laundry guide to stain removal.
Then you can just top up as and when, either ordering one product or three, as one purchase or on subscription.
Each batch carefully mixed from natural ingredients, it’s unscented and in a recipe that has been used by generations to keep clothes clean. It only contains four ingredients:
- Coconut oil (to naturally clean and soften)
- Sodium carbonate (washing soda, to boost cleaning and soften water)
- Sodium percarbonate (a chlorine-free alternative to bleach, with lifts stains using the powder of oxygen)
- Sodium gluconate (a salt that prevents residue.
This laundry powder works in all kinds of water (hard or soft, just adjust the amounts). To use:
- Add 1 tablespoon to the washing machine drum
- Dissolve in warm water, before washing by hand.
Pincinox (stainless steel clothes pegs from France)
Pincinox is a French brand of clothes pegs. The difference is that rather being made from plastic, these are made from stainless steel, and designed to last for years, perhaps forever!
If you dry clothes outside, always stow away rotary driers when not in use, to avoid strangulation accidents for children, pets and wildlife. Retractable clothes driers (that fit flush against the wall when not in use) are safer. Same for storing away football nets when not in use.
Sold with a lifetime warranty, these are rustproof and resistant to heat and frost (since 1969, not one set has ever been returned with a complaint). The unique solid one piece construction includes springless forged mechanism, to grip even heavy wet clothes. They are also easy to use and hold.
Sunday Times journalist India Knight calls these pegs ‘miracles of mini engineering’.
They also won’t rust so never stain your laundry, and you won’t ever have to pick up springs or pieces of broken pegs off your lawn or patio. Made by the same family for decades, you can also use them to peg open bags together, even bags of frozen peas!
Energy-Efficient Washing Machines (a quick guide)
Some people wash clothes by hand, others have washing machines but often new ones are unaffordable. And if you do buy new, it pays to go for an A-rated version, for energy efficiency which also leads to lower bills.
Use with biodegradable laundry powders (unscented for pregnancy/nursing and baby/pet bedding). Launder synthetic fibres in microfiber filters.
All UK washing machines must display energy labels by law, and new ones tend to be cheaper to run and use less water per cycle. Although some recommend washing at lower temperatures, choose higher temperatures for baby/pet bedding and weak immunity.
You can also find Quiet Mark labels, plus versions with quick wash and half-load settings, some also even have delay timers, to run washes at off-peak electricity rates.
But it all starts getting very complicated, doesn’t it? Why don’t companies just create energy-efficient simple machines, that everyone can understand?
Help your washing machine to last longer:
- Clean the detergent drawer and rubber seals monthly.
- Wipe around the door of each wash.
- Run an empty hot cycle with cleaning vinegar every few months.
- Clear the filter of lint (never leave lint in gardens, it can choke and harm baby birds and wildlife).
Most councils will collect large appliances. It’s UK law that whoever sells electrical goods, must take the old ones back for recycling.
Affordable Washing Machine Options
If you can’t afford to buy a new washing machine, Reuse Network sells them to people on low incomes (safety checked, from people donating them). It has a free Fit for Reuse area of the website, where technicians can receive guidance on how to all types of white goods.
Scrubba is the modern equivalent to a portable washboard. It costs around £45 and gives the results of a washing machine with no electricity. You just add water, clothes and biodegradable laundry powder/liquid, close the bag and rub against the inner washboard for up to 3 minutes. Then rinse.
If using while camping, tip used water at least least 30 metres (100 feet) from the water source, to prevent pollution.
Kitty’s Launderette (Liverpool) is one of a many community-owned spaces, this one named after an Irish immigrant who pioneered the washhouse movement. It also offers an eco-dry-cleaning service and repairs/alterations service. Run as a non-profit, it even washes kits for local football teams (the city has two quite good ones!)
An Off-Grid Manual Washing Machine
The Washing Machine Project is an affordable and empowering solution for global south countries, used by over 50,000 families. It was created by a woman in England, who watched a friend abroad spend hours each day, washing clothes.
This manual flat-packed machine saves up to 50% of water (good for drought-prone countries, and also saves 75% of the time, which also helps to prevent backache. It can also be locally repaired and is easily recycled. With just a few minutes of turning, it can launder clothes in 30 minutes, and has a built-in scrubber on the lid to tackle collar and cuff stains.
Wonderbag (a slow cooker that needs no power!)
Wonderbag is a genius invention (in fact, the founder has been named one of the 50 genius creators on earth!) An idea inspired by her grandmother (who would cook food then wrap it in hay to keep it warm), it can be used in England for people concerned over energy bills.
But of course it’s also being used abroad, from Africa (to stop the use of dangerous kerosene and chopping down firewood) to more recently in Ukraine, where people can cook hot food, if they can’t afford bills or have no power.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets. Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).
For tinned foods, remove and pop lids inside, or pop ring-pulls back over holes. Step on cans to pinch inner rims together, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
As a social enterprise, this company also uses profits to help provide low-cost cooking facilities to people in need around the world.
How Wonderbag works
First you boil your food. Once simmering, put pan in the Wonderbag. Close with the drawstring, and it will cook away for up to eight hours.
Sold in three sizes (for single households to large families), it’s made from polyester fabric on the outside, and inside repurposed foam insulation, which would otherwise have gone to landfill.
Before placing your post into the Wonderbag, lay a tea towel (or wooden chopping board) to help prevent the interior fabric from burning.
You can spot clean and hang to dry, or use a in a front-loading washing machine (due to synthetic fabrics, use a microfiber filter).
