Habits...doing things in a particular way for so long that we forget to consider the possibility that something can be done differently. I think washing textiles at home is such a topic.
For consumers it is common to wash textiles with water and soap and occasionally dry-cleaning (with perc, a carcinogenic substance) or steaming. Why are textiles washed? To eliminate stains and odour. And even if these are not present the textiles are washed just to give the idea of cleanliness. I wrote an blog article in 2012 about this topic.
For consumers it is common to wash textiles with water and soap and occasionally dry-cleaning (with perc, a carcinogenic substance) or steaming. Why are textiles washed? To eliminate stains and odour. And even if these are not present the textiles are washed just to give the idea of cleanliness. I wrote an blog article in 2012 about this topic.
Washing with hot water and soap in a machine is harmful for the environment:
- It costs energy to heat up the water
- It costs water
- Soap goes down the drain and not all soaps are fully biodegradable or friendly to the aquatic environment, they might cause oxygen levels to drop which makes it hard (or impossible) for aquatic living creatures to survive.
- Washing materials from non-biodegradable plastic (PET, Polypropylene) creates microfibres that end up in oceans. (Read more about this at The Guardian)
- And washing in a machine is not only harmful for the environment, it damages your textiles as well, because textiles rub and spin around each other.
How do we get clean textiles?
Yes, you read it correctly: I changed the terminology, I am not talking about “ washing” because the end purpose is clean clothes and there are multiple ways to do this without water.
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First of all: it is time to change the perception of “cleanliness”
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Techniques to clean textiles
Use different materials: wool can be easily aired or steamed. Or nano-enhanced textiles. (‘nano’ means really tiny. At the moment researchers don’t know much the effects of nano-materials on human and nature. Because the particles are so small they could enter our skin. This can be good (biodegradable materials that heal the body for example) but we do not know the long term effects of e.g. silver entering the body.
Use different materials: wool can be easily aired or steamed. Or nano-enhanced textiles. (‘nano’ means really tiny. At the moment researchers don’t know much the effects of nano-materials on human and nature. Because the particles are so small they could enter our skin. This can be good (biodegradable materials that heal the body for example) but we do not know the long term effects of e.g. silver entering the body.
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CO2 to clean textiles
CO2 is a useful substance, I did a project about dyeing with CO2 instead of water and an article about removing dye. |
Ultrasonic technology
For this technology you do need water, but no detergent, rubbing or spinning anymore. |
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