Lighten The Load: The Carbon Footprint of Laundry
The Carbon Footprint of One Load of Laundry
Hot yoga means sweaty things; towels, face cloths and the clothes we wear to practice in generally all get thrown in the wash after practice. At Yogalife Studios, we offer a free towel service with our monthly membership. We have upwards of 10 classes daily - over half of them heated - that usually require a towel over your mat. Most days it feels like our washer and dryer are running non-stop, and while we love to provide this service to our clients, we also want to bring awareness around the overall effect of this process.
The carbon footprint of a load of laundry:
0.6 kg CO2e washed at 30°C, dried on the line 0.7 kg CO2e washed at 40°C, dried on the line 2.4 kg CO2e washed at 40°C, tumble-dried in a vented dryer 3.3 kg CO2e washed at 60°C, dried in a combined washer-dryer
Depending on how you do it, and how many loads you get through each week, laundry can contribute a surprising amount to your carbon footprint. Washing and drying a load every two days creates around 440kg of CO2e each year, which is equivalent to flying from London to Glasgow and back with 15-mile taxi rides to and from the airports.
Source: www.theguardian.com
How Can We Lighten the Load?
Our yoga practice teaches us mindfulness, which applies to every part of our lives. Could you bring a shower towel or face cloth from home? Do you have a yoga towel that you aren't using that you could bring instead? If you are practicing yoga frequently, perhaps investing in your own towel is the next step (pssst, all of our retail stock is on sale for 40% off until Feb 14!). That way you could wash your yoga stuff with the rest of your laundry, which you are going to wash anyway. We know that laundry comes with the territory when things get sweaty, but let's all try and be mindful of our consumption.