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Focusing on the fabric as the problem ignores the other major issue of the wasteful way we clean our clothes. This could potentially be much improved if we deve
by neoteo 7y ago
Focusing on the fabric as the problem ignores the other major issue of the wasteful way we clean our clothes. This could potentially be much improved if we developed alternative ways of cleaning our clothes that didn’t waste resources and pollute as much as the current system: using lots of water, energy to heat the water, detergents to clean, energy to generate friction and circulation, dumping the waste into nature.
Are there any current efforts/research into new and better (efficient & sustainable) fabric cleaning systems?
- raverbashing 7y agoYou can always wash your clothes by hand using "natural" soaps (like coconut oil soap). Then dry them using a clothesline, weather permitting.
- Scoundreller 7y agoUse the clothesline indoors anyway. Dryers ruin clothes, then you have to buy more.
- e12e 7y agoYou really want to uv treat your cold washed clothes, though (hang them outside). It kills bacteria about as well as bleach - see this subthread and story: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17069083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17069083 In particular (the now moved) : http://www.dranniesexperiments.com/sunlight-testing http://www.dranniesexperiments.com/sunlight-testing
- Scoundreller 7y agoSure, if you can. But if you can’t... Dunno how necessary it is to UV disinfect clothes after washing. We don’t live in a sterile world.
- perl4ever 7y agoWell, we live in a world that's bombarded with UV, so there could be some drawback to living in an environment artificially shielded from it. Both may be nonsterile, but that doesn't imply they are the same.
- e12e 7y agoNote I said your "cold washed clothes". If you wash at 60C, there's no (great) need for additional sterilization. Wash cold, and your just evenly distributing bacteria from your dirtiest items to your cleanest items...
- Angostura 7y agoI think we've been working quite hard on that problem. Most of the detergents I use today (in the UK) are now cold water detergents, that don't need warm water for every day use. Modern front-loading washing machines use about 50 litres (10 gallons) for a full load - about a fifth of old top-loaders. I seem to recall some research into using ultrasound to clean fabrics, but I'm not sure where we are on that.
- Scoundreller 7y agoAnd their spin cycles really pull out a lot of water.
- fyfy18 7y agoModern machines vary the water consumption based on the load, so in reality it's even less. On a 40c wash they will consume around 0.5kWh of electricity.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- bamboozled 7y agoThis doesn’t fix some of the issues you mention, but helps stop microplastics from contaminating the environment. http://guppyfriend.com/en/ http://guppyfriend.com/en/
- w56rjrtyu6ru 7y agoThe hell is wrong with the scrolling on that site. Oh I get it. That's right, let's build an "eco-friendly" product and market it through a website that wastes electricity computing your cute footer effect that actually looks hella confusing - and full of jank, even on a reasonably high-end machine.
- userbinator 7y agoI've heard a lot that the new "high efficiency" washers are a bit of a joke; while they may use less resources, they also are far less effective at cleaning, which just causes users to run the cycle multiple times. It somewhat reminds me of the old saying about optimisation in software: "The most efficient way to do something is to not do it at all." Not exactly something to follow when it comes to cleaning, however...