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On her soapbox
Making laundry detergent at home can be a small way to make big environmental difference, according to local fans of the practice
Friday, June 26, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by REID SILVERMAN
Christina Allen of Lexington Park starts a load of laundry using her homemade laundry detergent.
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Christina Allen pulled out a tub of her homemade laundry detergent at her home in Lexington Park and explained some strands that were mixed in the white powder.
"It might have straw from the barn in it." It doesn't matter since living on a farm means the clothes are much dirtier anyway, she said.
Allen noted that homemade laundry detergent does more than just clean clothes. With each load of laundry, it saves people, money and the environment, she said.
Allen first started making her own detergent more than five years ago because her husband, Frank, has severe allergies. Finding commercially produced detergents without allergy-inducing perfumes proved to be difficult. "I couldn't find any that didn't have perfumes. Even ones that say they are perfume-free have masking scents just to cover up the smell of perfumes."
So, she took matters into her own hands.
With just four main ingredients, Allen can mix together a year's supply of the detergent, assuming five loads a week. And the cost is low — between $8 and $10 for that one-year's supply. Since laundry detergent is highly concentrated, only º cup is needed per load. Allen stores her one-year supply in a two-gallon plastic container.
Two of the ingredients, borax and baking soda, can be found at any supermarket. Allen suggests purchasing a 50-pound bag of baking soda for around $10 from an animal feed supply store, like Southern States or Stauffer's Grain Mill, a local Mennonite grain store known as the Henyard by the "old-timers." Not only is buying in bulk cheaper in the long run, but also baking soda can be used for many other household cleaning jobs, she said.
Allen recommends ordering the other ingredients, sodium lauryl sulfoacetate and essential oils, from SunFeather Natural Soap Company at www.sunfeather.com or any other online provider. Essential oils are also available at health food stores or can be made from scratch by grinding and soaking grapefruit rinds. Grapefruit essential oil is preferred by Allen's husband, who refuses to smell like rose petals, she said. Also, its natural antibacterial quality is much appreciated on the Allens' farm.
"Some have objections to using sodium lauryl sulfoacetate," Allen acknowledged, "but it's just super fine. Anything that fine is bad for you if you breathe it in. Just [handle it] outside when it's not windy and cover your face."
The detergent works well with front-loading washing machines and is safe for septic and some greywater systems.
Carrie Kelley of Lexington Park ran out of detergent one day and asked Allen, "OK, how do you do this?"
She has been using the homemade detergent for the past six months. "I've been really delighted with the way it works. It works as well as anything else I've tried, and I've raised two kids," Kelley said.
Because Allen is concerned about carcinogens and other chemically related health problems, knowing what goes into her detergent is a comfort. "Just because we don't keel over doesn't meant it won't affect you later in life. Quality of life should count for something," she said.
Both Allen and Kelley noted that homemade laundry detergent is natural and therefore gentle on the environment.
For Allen, whose farm is almost self-sufficient, this is an important benefit. Harsh chemicals from store-bought detergent enter the water and don't "magically disappear. We're responsible," she said.
Even the commercially produced laundry detergent bottle itself plays an important role in either hurting or protecting the environment, she said.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lifecycle analysis, the net energy savings for a recycled one-gallon plastic detergent bottle is 8.49 thousand BTUs or 0.7 kilowatt-hours of energy, which is the energy equivalent to running a room-sized air conditioner unit for half an hour, 56 hours of a 60-watt compact fluorescent light bulb and almost 15 hours of running a laptop computer.
Most people are familiar with the three R's — reduce, reuse and recycle. Richard Tarr, solid waste and recycling manager for St. Mary's County government, said the three R's are a "hierarchy for waste minimization." Reducing one's rate of consumption is even more effective than recycling, he said.
Allen's homemade laundry detergent lasts an entire year as opposed to store-bought detergents that need to be replaced several times each year. "You're not contributing those plastic bottles to the landfill. You're using your own container so you're taking that out of the waste stream," Kelley said.
However, recycling does make a difference, Tisha Petteway, a spokesperson for the EPA, says, "By reducing the materials that you purchase and use, you are making a big difference in the long run. Source reduction is a priority when it comes to materials management due to the environmental impacts of the manufacturing process and the greenhouse gases that are emitted throughout the lifecycle of a product."
Making a product to begin with results in the use of numerous toxins, which enter the environment. Detergent bottles involve processes to acquire crude oil, which negatively impact the environment, she said.
While Allen notes that recycling is an important part of the process, she urges people to see the bigger picture as they try taking steps to living in an environmentally sound way. "You can't just do it one way. Create a mountain of trash you don't see. You have to reduce your consumption or think of how else you can use it. Otherwise, you're part of the problem."
Homemade laundry detergent is person, pocket and environmentally friendly, Allen said. "All around it's a win-win," she said.
Recipe for homemade detergent
Ingredients
13 cups borax
12 cups baking soda
2 cups sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
2 tablespoons grapefruit essential oil
º cup clay powder (optional natural fruit pest control)
Directions
If using the clay powder, whisk it together with the essential oil. Whisk the oil mix into the other ingredients. If not using the clay powder, whisk all ingredients together at once. Store in a large, covered container. Use º cup of detergent per load.
Optional: º cup of hydrogen peroxide can be used in the bleach compartment of the washing machine.
Safe for colors, front-loaders, septic and most greywater systems.
This recipe is adapted from Sandy Maine's "Clean, Naturally: Recipes for Body, Home, and Spirit" (Interweave Press).
To learn more about the benefits of source reduction, go to www.epa.gov/osw//conserve/rrr/reduce.htm. For more information, tips and recycling locations, go to www.earth911.com.
