Press Release: March 03, 2020
Only by saving every 10th wash, consumers could save 47 Megatons of CO2 and 4.5 billion cubic meters of fresh water on a global scale. And if we could wash half as much it turns out to be 235 megatons of CO2 and 22.5 billion cubic meters of water.
This is really an amazing low hanging fruit for reducing climate gases. There is probably also a lot of overkill in todays washings. Shirts just used for one day can probably be freshened with some fresh air on the balcony, sweat from sports equipments can just be rinsed with some cold water sometimes. All together, to save every 10th wash cannot be a big sacrifice but can make a big contribution in mitigating climate change and scarcity of fresh waters.
The laundry issue has only, so far, been discussed within the limits of the direct emissions/water consumptions for the washing machine. The ecological footprint is also quite high for manufacturing textiles and the washing will influence the turnover of textiles. It should therefore be relevant to bring in even the degradation of textiles due to washing into the fo tprint of washing.
This has been calculated by the Stockholm-based consultant company; re-profit.
The total electricity consumption from washes globally is 51.1 TWh and the water consumption of 12.3 km3 according to published data.
Also about less wash: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/31/less-laundry-less-often-how-to-lighten-the-washday-load-on-the-environment
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future,
(2017, http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications).
Personal email correspondence with Ann-Charlotte Hanning, RISE 14th Oct 2019.
Magnus Hedenmark, consultant
Re:profit AB
www.reprofit.se
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