Ideal Bite: Dirty Laundry - Spring Cleaning Week

Apr 17, 2008 BANG FOR THE BITE If 10,000 Biters replace their bleach- or ammonia-based cleaner with a biodegradable alternative for one year, we'll keep 400 bucketfuls of toxic chems from begriming our planet. COCKTAIL FACTOID Wi-fi washing: Worcester Polytechnic Institute has a website that allows students to check the progress of their laundry via the internet. LIKE THIS TIP? Then check out . . . The Cold Water Wash Tip RATE THIS TIP How useful is this tip? (5 is the highest) 1 2 3 4 5 Are all laundry products as clean as they seem? The Bite We wish. Many contain ingredients you don't usually want anywhere near your personal affairs (animal tallow, anyone?). Try our fave goods to keep your clothes - not to mention your eco-reputation - as clean as a whistle. The Benefits Safety first. In the United States, 25,000-plus kids "are exposed to" (that's EPA code for "have accidents involving") chlorine bleach each year. Saving oil. If every U.S. household replaces one box of 48-oz, petroleum-based powder laundry detergent with a vegetable-based one, we'll save enough oil to heat and cool 5,300 homes for a year. Avoiding irritation. Fragrances and harsh solvents like ammonia contained in some typical detergents and fabric softeners can trigger your allergies and asthma, and cause skin irritation. Scents you'll wanna sniff. Not reeking of chlorine is always a plus. Personally Speaking We wish the whole iSmell thing had panned out, just so you could smell these detergents and fabric softeners through your computer screen. Wanna Try? Bleach Ecover Bleach - make your whites even brighter with this nonchlorine bleach ($5/14 oz). Detergent Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Laundry Detergent - liquid that really works. Comes in five scents; geranium's our fave, but we don't reco mixing fragrances between washer and dryer ($12/32 oz). Dryer Sheets Shaklee Get Clean Dryer Sheets - biodegradable and made with none of the vegetarian-unfriendly animal tallow found in regular dryer sheets ($10/80 sheets). Fabric Softener Mrs. Meyer's Fabric Softener - essential oils (instead of tallow) fluff your fabrics right nice; in four scents, here in sweet geranium ($8/32 oz). Stain Remover Laundress Stain Solution - we love this whole line of biodegradable, upscale cleaning products - especially this hardworking stain remover that gets out even nasty pit stains ($6/2 oz). Wool Wash Kookaburra Wash - liquid tea tree oil wash that works great for delicates and even washes wool, so you can skip the dry cleaner ($11/16 oz).       Sponsor

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