The way you wash your clothes in the washing machine can make a big impact on the carbon emissions you are producing. You can save a quarter of a ton of carbon emissions a year and save money with these tips below.

Loading the washing machine

The easiest way to reduce the carbon footprint of your laundry is to put in a full load of clothes rather than a half load. You will be using your washing machine a lot less and cutting your use of energy and water.

Washing machine temperature

The next thing to remember is the temperature at which you wash your clothes. As you can see from carbon emissions calculated by Berners-Lee in ‘How bad are bananas’, a typical 8kg load of laundry produces the following carbon emissions:

330g CO₂e washed at 30 degrees Celsius, dried on the line.

540g CO₂e washed at 40 degrees Celsius, dried on the line.

590g CO₂e washed at 60 degrees Celsius, dried on the line.

2kg CO₂e washed at 40 degrees Celsius, tumble-dried.

2.1kg CO₂e washed and dried in a washer-drier.

The colder the temperature you choose to wash your clothes, the lower your carbon footprint will be because they require less energy for heating. The data above of the emissions for different washes, washing clothes at 40 degrees rather than 30 degrees nearly doubles emissions.

Line drying versus tumble-dried clothes

The biggest contributor to the carbon footprint when doing the laundry is tumble-drying clothes. Washing and drying clothes in a washer-drier increases emissions four times over. The most effective thing to do to keep carbon emissions down in laundry is to dry clothes on a line. You can also buy a heating rack to dry your clothes in your home all year round. Even though heating racks require energy, it is still a lot less energy than tumble-drying clothes.

All these tips above will not only reduce carbon emissions but will save money on water and energy bills. By not tumble drying your clothes, using the washing machine less and washing on a colder temperature, you could save £77 a year on your energy bill.