The UK’s biggest supplier of budget clothing is urging families to turn down the water temperature on their washing machines and avoid the use of tumble dryers, to help save energy, and the planet.
Asda will recommend a 30c wash instead of the normal 40c and will provide this information on the labels of its George range from March. The company claims modern detergents and machines can effectively clean clothes at ten degrees less.
The supermarket retailer will also encourage shoppers who purchase its garments to hang them outside and allow nature to take its course.
Tamara Mauro-Trujilloof, of the Energy Saving Trust, said huge amounts of energy could be saved from coal, gas and oil-fired stations if families used less to power the household wash. As a result carbon emissions would be reduced.
“If all the garments sold by Asda in 2006 were washed at 30c instead of higher temperatures, £200,000 could be saved in electricity costs.”
“This would save enough power to run 5,300 TVs for a year and enough CO2 to fill 4,600 double decker buses,” she added.
The George range’s technical director, Paul Wright, said: “A massive 60 per cent of the amount of energy to make and launder a garment is used by the customer once they get the item of clothing home .”
“By simply following our revised washing instructions not only will customers be saving themselves money but they can also do their bit for the environment at the same time,” he added.
With a 17 per cent share, Asda is the biggest player in the £7.8 billion-a-year market for cheap clothing with 237 million garments sold a year.
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