Fostering Sustainable Laundry Habits with Behavioral Science
Your laundry may have a larger carbon footprint than you realize. Cleaning just a single load of clothes can come with substantial CO2 emissions — especially if you’re using warm water. 60% of laundry’s carbon footprint is attributed to the wash cycle, mostly due to the energy-intensive process of heating the water.
The good news: washing clothes in colder water is an easy and effective way to reduce emissions. Lowering the washing temperature from 60°C to 30°C can reduce the carbon footprint of laundry by as much as 60%. Not only that, but recently updated detergent formulas are showing good results even in lower temperatures, making cold-water laundry a win-win for both consumers and the planet.
References
- Ein kleiner Dreh mit großer Wirkung: Wäsche kälter zu waschen, schützt das Klima und spart bares Geld. (n.d.). https://pgnewsroom.de/pressemeldungen/pressemitteilung-details/2022/Ein-kleiner-Dreh-mit-groer-Wirkung-Wsche-klter-zu-waschen-schtzt-das-Klima-und-spart-bares-Geld/default.aspx
- Procter & Gamble. (n.d.). Procter & Gamble Deutschland. https://de.pg.com/
- CSCP gGmbH. (2023, July 25). CSCP gGmbH | Investing in a Good Life. https://www.cscp.org/
- Michie, S., Van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Science, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-6-42
About the Author
Rosa Strube
Rosa Strube is the Head of Sustainable Lifestyles at the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), a think-and-do tank based in Germany. She is passionate about designing, implementing and evaluating behavior change interventions to help solve different sustainability challenges related to human every day activities. She strongly believes in the need for different players from civil society, industry and science to work together to collaboratively test and mainstream solutions to support the sustainability transition. Rosa holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MA from the University of Bonn, Germany.
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