Adding Greener Laundry Products to the Fold

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Sure, you’ve switched to greener cleaning products, but how eco-friendly is the storage and folding apparatus in your laundry room? Are you still married to cold chrome and first-use plastic?

Here’s the scoop on several better choices for the oh-so-natural laundry maven.

Roll out the bamboo because it’s a better way to store and hang your laundry. It may be designed for the guest room but the bamboo rack, $130, from The Container Store is a natural in the laundry room.

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Take stock in how you’ve been schlepping those tees and towels. The Whitmor totes from Kohl’s  (below) are so much more wholesome than their woven plastic rivals. The ample Vetiver bins from VivaTerra sell for $69 and are made of wild root and grass and also deliver a more gentle storage option for hauling clean and dirty clothes. And for splashes of color to contrast with the neutral green textiles, stir in the Rice and Feed bags, just $20-$36, also from VivaTerra.

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We always had wicker hampers when I was a kid and these canvas and woven houses for dirty clothes are also woven of healthy fibers. The folding cedar hamper with a cotton canvas bag is only $30 at Organize and is another space saver with adorably simple lines. Station one in every room and bring them down for laundry time. Other pure storage containers include the reed or sea grass hampers from The Container Store.

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We have sung the praises of resurrecting the clothesline for sustainable drying (and we’ve also shared a bevy of green laundry tips, including how to make your own detergent, so don’t miss it). Just tell nosy neighbors who don’t like it to nose right out! There are many sources for picking up rotary and rectractable lines, including Green and More, where I found this rotary model for around $120.

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For indoor drying of delicates, a wall-mounted bamboo folding rack is a good way to go, such as this one for $80 from Gaiam.

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Luanne Bradley

Luanne Sanders Bradley is the West coast Editor at EcoSalon and currently resides in San Francisco, California.