The best way to wash dishes

If you want to reduce our carbon footprint from washing dishes, what method should we use?

Use the dishwasher or hand wash dishes?

Research shows that handwashing plates only beats using a dishwasher if water is used sparing and is luke-warm temperature. If you use lots of hot water, carbon emissions are higher than a dishwasher. It is also unhygienic because there will be 400 times more bacteria on your plates compared to plates that have been washed in the dishwasher. So, a dishwasher is your best option. The worst thing you can do is to wash the plate and then put it in the dishwasher. This is the worst of both worlds and creates the most carbon emissions.

How to use your dishwasher

If your dishwasher has the option washing at a lower temperature, then choose that option because the lower the temperature, less energy is used by the dishwasher. When choosing a dishwasher, the best dishwashers for the environment are modern, efficient and built to last. The less you need to replace it, the less carbon per use.

Dishwasher tablets

Dishwasher tablets usually have palm oil in them and is one of the main causes of deforestation. Palm oil has accounted for 23% of deforestation in this century and has been particularly harmful to tropical rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia, where it is mainly produced. To reduce carbon emissions from washing dishes, buy dishwasher tablets which use palm oil from responsibly produced sources, and they should RSPO certified. RSPO is a global certification system for certified sustainable palm oil. If there are dishwasher tablets which are palm oil free, even better!