The Greenest Clean!

As a Mum of four I do a lot of washing. Two loads a day (minimum) which means a considerable amount of time is spent loading the washing machine, hanging out wet washing, ironing (only the bits that really need it) and putting it all away again.

While it isn’t my favourite job (I actually don’t mind the ironing, truth be told, as I get to watch TV while I do it), I am also aware that we must use a lot of water. Am I blighting the environment by doing so?! I try to minimise my washing footprint by returning the things which aren’t dirty from the laundry basket to my teenager’s drawers before they even hit the machine. What is it with teens who only have to try on a top on for a TikTok video, and then they discard it as if they’ve been out trekking for days in said garment!?! So, don’t tell them my little trick there but honestly, there has to be a line drawn and if there’s no visible marks and it doesn’t smell then sorry guys, it’s not getting washed (again)!

Of course it’s not just the amount of water we use which plays on my mind for my carbon footprint (and the water bill) but the products we use. I have a rugby player and a footballer who come home muddy and stained, of course they need their clothes washing and often with something that can be tough on dirt. But… Does that necessarily mean it has to be full of chemicals, or, as usually happens, contained in big, plastic receptacles which are often a blight on the environment themselves with their one time use (sometimes without any scope for recycling even)! Brands are getting better it’s true, using cardboard often times instead of plastic, but still… It’s not always the case, and even when it is, is it enough?!

Probably not when you know people like The Green Company are doing it better, proving it’s possible! And, to boot, they are no more expensive!

I’ve been using their “Green Sheets for my washing for the past few weeks, instead of the usual tablets I buy, which on the best offer of all the supermarkets I’ve seen this week, cost a fraction over 20 pence per wash. This is only when bought in the biggest packaging I might add, and even though smaller quantities can be purchased in cardboard containers, a bigger pack like this comes in a plastic pouch. Why?!

By comparison, Green Clean washing sheets offer (full price cost) 19 pence per wash. A penny cheaper! And while there’s not a lot in it, cheaper is still cheaper. Coupled with this they arrive in completely recyclable packaging which are also flat making them very easy to store.

The Laundry Sheets, packed in a box slimmer than a regular sized book, come in two halves, are easy to tear apart, and all you have to do is pop one in with each wash before you add the clothes. Nothing else is different. Not the quality of the wash, or the amount of scent (I like mine to smell like they’ve been washed) and if anything, the ease of use is actually less tricky. My favourite scent is the lavender as it produces quite a noticeable floral smell to the clothes once they are clean and dried. The fresh linen is also very nice and a little more subtle if you prefer that, or if you don’t like to have a scent at all then they also offer a fragrance free option.