100: Green Your Laundry Routine

Spring has officially sprung and for most of us, that means (you guessed it!) spring cleaning! If you have a pile of laundry waiting for you to scrub, suds, fluff, and fold, you're not alone. In the U.S., 660 million laundry loads are washed every week, totaling a whopping 35 billion loads each year. But, have you ever considered what's lurking in your laundry detergent? Could your laundry detergent be toxic to your health and the environment (hint: yes). From phosphates and dyes to synthetic surfactants, optical brighteners, parabens, synthetic fragrances, and chlorine, your conventional laundry detergent brand is likely exposing you and your family to a host of toxic chemicals, allergens, respiratory irritants, hormone disruptors, and maybe even a cancer-causing chemical. Not to mention the plastic waste that your laundry jug is adding to landfills. To add fuel to the laundry jug fire, this plastic can take more than 100 years to break down. But the environmental buck doesn't stop there. Laundry detergent is a major source of microplastic pollution, with a single load releasing up to 700,000 microplastic fibers into the water. Yikes! Our guest, Anita Spiller, leads ESG for Tru Earth, a Certified B Corp global household cleaning product company, Anita focuses on eliminating household single-use plastics, battling microplastics, and donating earth-friendly products to organizations in need. KEY TAKEAWAYS The key issues Tru Earth's cleaning solutions aim to solve How Tru Earth's eco-strip compares to traditional liquid laundry detergent Common misconceptions related to earth-friendly cleaning products Advice for someone just learning about healthy and sustainable cleaning solutions Advice to listeners who are looking to make their first eco-swap The products Tru Earth offers in its full lineup Where to purchase Tru Earth products You can learn more about Tru Earth's products and mission at: www.tru.earth/Store. We'll have all of the links in the show notes at https://ronandlisa.com/podcasts/100-green-your-laundry-routine/.