Green Your Clean: Laundry Detergent

If you're anything like me, you probably want to limit your family's exposure to chemicals- especially in your own home. In trying to do this, one thing you have to consider is your laundry detergent. As lovely as freshly laundered towels smell and feel, have you ever stopped to look at what's in your detergent? Or your fabric softener? Or your dryer sheets? Or your stain lifter? Chemicals. That's what. Lots of them. But they don't want you to know that... do you know what it says on most laundry detergents?

• Cleaning agents (anionic and nonionic surfactants)
• Buffering agent
• Stabilizer
• Brightening agent
• Fragrance

How... vague of them. Does it make the towels a little less lovely when you know that they are covered in Linear alkyl sodium sulfonates, Petroleum distillates, Phenols, Optical brighteners, Phosphates, Sodium hypochlorite, EDTA (ethylene-diamino-tetra-acetate), and Petroleum-based artificial fragrances? ick. Some possible side effects of these chemicals... cancer, lung damage and inflammation, toxicity affecting the central nervous system, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and kidneys, reproductive, endocrine, and immune system damage, skin and eye irritation, allergic reactions, and death (seriously). Not to mention the SEVERE damage that they do to the environment: unbalancing ecosystems, releasing toxins such as benzene, feminizing male fish, redissolving and releasing toxic heavy metals back into the environment, and various other toxic effects on animals and fish.

You may think that the "Free and Clear" options out there are a safe bet. Wrong. It's true that they usually don't have the fragrances and dyes. Sometimes they are biodegradable or hypoallergenic... but that doesn't mean that they are free of dangerous chemicals. You MUST carefully read labels in order to be sure that your laundry products are safe.

What to look for:

• Plant based surfactants
• Free of enzymes, phosphates, chlorine, and petroleum ingredients
• Sustainable ingredients
• Non-toxic
• Biodegradable 
• Scented with essential oils (only). 

I recommend ECOS Liquid Laundry Detergent or Trader Joe's Liquid Laundry Detergent. I am not an advocate of Walmart by any means, but I know that they sell ECOS for about $10 for a large bottle. I'm sure you can also purchase it online.


Happy washday!


References:
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/07/06/the-toxic-dangers-of-typical-laundry-detergent.htm
http://www.ecos.com/pages/specsub/eliqsp.html