Go zero-waste with laundry sheets or strips

Did you know…

A tiny carboard box contains a years worth of laundry soap? Sign me up!

A box of 100 laundry sheets weighs only about 7 oz., compared to liquid detergents weighing almost 10 lbs. Additionally, there is minimal waste as packaging for most laundry sheets and strips contains no plastic at all.Rip a sheet off, throw it in the washer and see what happens. Tests show that sheets are a viable option for washing loads that aren’t heavily soiled

About biodegradable laundry sheets or strips in biodegradable packaging

Laundry sheets are lightweight, compact, don’t use water as a bulk ingredient, are pre-measured, and come in compostable paper packaging.

In general,eco-friendly laundry sheets are made of: deionized water, natural plant-derived surfactants, enzymes, and in some cases, a fragrance. Their cleaning power faced with different levels of grime and dirt vary so it’s good to read reviews

As with many of our cleaning products, there is a down-side to using sheets. Most laundry sheets contain microplastics (PVA) which physically hold the sheet together. PVA is fully biodegradable, but only under very specific conditions. Typically, these conditions cannot be met by U.S. Wastewater treatment facilities, according to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Therefore, it ends up in the environment after the wash cycle. Analysts have not yet agreed upon the harm that this side effect can cause. 2 You should also be aware that if a product says plastic-free it does not necessarily mean it is free of PVA, as PVA is not categorized as a plastic per se.

Impacts

Our team completed our own analysis of potential impact savings and found that by switching from traditional liquid laundry detergent to laundry sheets a family of 4 could save in a year the CO2 emissions equivalent to driving 8.4 miles or charging 413 cell phones.

If the entire city of Chicago switched from traditional liquid laundry detergent in plastic jugs to laundry sheets or strips in paper packaging we could save the CO2 emissions equivalent to driving a car over 5.7 million miles or charge over 283 million phones.

Basic Assumptions

•  A household is a family of 4
• A load uses one strip; One package washes 32 loads.
• Average family does 520 loads of laundry per year 4
• 80% of U.S households (98.4 Million) own washing machines 5

Footnotes

• Flamer, K. (2022, September 1)Do Laundry Detergent Sheets Work? Consumer Reports. Retrieved April 12, 2023 from https://www.consumerreports.org/appliances/laundry-detergents/laundry-detergent-sheets-review-a8916087070/
•  Rolsky, C., & Kelkar, V. (2021). Degradation of polyvinyl alcohol in US wastewater treatment plants and subsequent nationwide emission estimate. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(11), 6027. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18116027

• Solarponics. “Washing Away a bad Laundry Habit.” Solarponics: Sustainable Energy Systems, 22 November, 2022, 

  https://www.solarponics.com/washing-away-a-bad-laundry-habit/ . Retrieved April 12, 2023
• Springboard. (2019, February 10). “True cost of laundry.” Hassle Free Laundry - Laundry and Dry Cleaning Delivery, 10 February, 2019, 6https://www.hasslefreelaundry.com/2019/02/10/true-cost-of-laundry/#:~:text=The%20average%20family%20of%204,%2C%20drying%2C%20and%20folding%20clothes Retrieved February, 2023
• Statistia. “ Washing Machines – Statistics and Facts.” September, 2022. https://www.statista.com/topics/2186/washers-and-dryers/. Retrieved April 12, 2023