Stop putting oil in your washing machine!

by Ismael Santiago of ATM Business Group, Inc. ( 3-Nov-2008 )

Did you know that Laundry Detergents are petroleum byproduct? But before we start talking about laundry detergents maybe a short history on how we went from vegetable and animal fat based soaps to detergents is in order. During the World Wars, in particular WW 2, detergent research was spurred by shortages of animal and vegetable fats, and the need of armies to wash clothes in hard, cold water. The first detergents where mainly used for dish washing and laundering delicate fabrics. From the 1950s onward soap products where gradually replaced by detergents derived from petroleum by-products. Development of all-purpose detergents began in 1946, when the first detergent that combined surfactants and builders was introduced in America by Procter and Gamble with their product “Tide”. This combination worked very well because the surfactant would break the tension of the water and allowed the water to remove the dirt. Synthetic surfactant held a significant performance advantage over soap: they performed much better in cold, hard water. Synthetic detergent production surpassed the highest level ever achieved by soap in 1957. Detergents could now be found in many common products, including personal hygiene products, and “progress” has continued at a rapid pace. The worldwide consumption of detergents in 2003 was 27 million tons. Through the years detergent manufacturers have sophisticated the manufacturing process by adding more chemicals to enhance the laundry detergents effectiveness. These chemicals include optical whiteners, (that give the “appearance” of whiter clothes) chlorine, softener and others.Even when Laundry Detergents have made our life easier and our clothes brighter it has not been without a dear price. Some of the consequences of using detergents are obvious like effecting the environment by flushing 27 million tons by petroleum based detergent down our drains. Since detergents have more chemicals, many people have developed skin and respiratory allergies from the small amounts of detergent left in the clothes after washing.  Another side effect of using detergents is it affects the useful life of your clothing by slowly deteriorating the fabric. So the next question has to be “is there an alternative to laundry detergents without its inherent negative side effects”? The alternative is “Magnetic Saponification”.  Even though this term sounds “leading edge” the technology has been around since the early 1900s. The same way that oil based detergents can use chemical saponification to allow water to clean clothes you can accomplish the same task with Magnets. The famous scientist Hendrick Lorentz and his college Pieter Zeeman won the Noble Peace Prize in 1902 for showing how magnetism can alter the normal state of the hydrogen molecule in water.In our homes we are using more chemicals every day. Besides using laundry detergents, we also include spot or stain removers, chlorine and other products to our wash. Magnetic saponification will eliminate the need to buy laundry detergents however you will still need to use stain remover and chlorine.  I would suggest using an enzymatic biodegradable stain remover and instead of chlorine, use products like oxyclean or plain borax. If you must have a perfume smell on your clothes you can use a softener sheet with a scent in your dryer. The use of magnets in your wash will also save you water and electricity because you will not have to rinse your clothes. A rinse cycle will use between 20-40 gallons of water. We have the technology available today to make our environment greener. We can responsibly choose alternatives to insure our children will inherit a clean and healthy planet. It is up to us!