Anyone and everyone has to at some point in time buy laundry detergent. If it wasn’t for laundry detergent these days very few of us would have super clean clothes. The one thing that we must ponder, though, about store about laundry detergent is how safe it is for the environment. Ever took a good look at the ingredients on various laundry detergent bottles and or boxes? The answer to whether or not laundry detergent is safe for the environment is easily answered with a plain and simple, straight forward, “no”. There are too many chemicals, etc. in laundry detergents that aren’t environmentally friendly, which makes it hard on the water. Luckily, there is way around it. Ever thought about making your own eco-friendly laundry detergent? If so, or even if you are simply curious up to this point, then continue reading from here on out…
The following recipes are recipes that you can easily make at home in order to make eco-friendly laundry detergents.
Eco-Friendly Powdered Laundry Detergent
Ingredients:
1 bar of soap (not antibacterial)
1/2 cup of borax
1/2 cup of baking soda
Grater
Resealable container
Directions:
1. Grate bar of soap into container.
2. Pour in borax and baking soda.
3. Mix well.
4. Use 1 tbsp. for small or lightly soiled loads and 2 tbsp. for large or heavily soiled loads.
This recipe is by “GreenKnitter”. You can view this recipe in their article online.
Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent
Ingredients:
5 ounces of pure soap (can be deodorant soap)- preferably cruelty-free soap. I use pure glycerin soap. If you can find Zote Soap, that’s great.
Water (faucet is fine)
grater
large pot (3-4 quart size)
Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate) – a.k.a Washing Soda – can be found at grocery, photography, and pool supply stores.
Directions:
1. Grate the 5 ounces of soap into the pot and just cover with water.
2. Heat until soap is dissolved. Heat on low to medium heat, stirring continually.
3. After heating and dissolving, fill pot the rest of the way with more water. Stir in ONE cup full of soda ash/washing soda.
4. Stir mixture until soda ash is dissolved. I usually heat mine on low and stir to dissolve the soda ash completely. Let mixture cool.
5. Funnel into a large recycled container, such as a recycled juice bottle, a cola bottle, or anything else you can find. Use 1/4 cup per full load of laundry.
This recipe is by “themissiah”. This recipe can be viewed in their article online.