Does our desire to feel clean hurt the planet?

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

The "ick" factor puts people off washing less to save the planet, according to new research.

Most adults today would lean towards "green" lifestyle choices - but not at the expense of being clean, suggests the study.

When it comes to our washing habits, scientists found the fear of being perceived as "dirty" often wins out over the desire to act in an environmentally friendly way.

And the more inclined we are to feel disgusted - the more we wash our clothes, according to the findings published in the journal PLOS One.

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden examined the driving forces behind laundry habits.

People today wash clothes more than ever before, and the emissions from laundering have never been higher.

In 2015, the average European washed four machine loads per week. Although this is 0.7 fewer loads than in 2000, it is still a sharp rise since the capacity of washing machines has grown during the same period.

Up to a third of global emissions of microplastics come from washing synthetic fibers, according to previous research.

Among the reasons, say scientists, are that people wear each garment fewer times before throwing them in the laundry bin, and technological advances have made it easier and cheaper to do laundry.

Study leader Erik Klint said: "Even though the machines have become more energy-efficient, it is how often we choose to wash that has the greatest impact on the climate – and we have never done as much washing as we do today.

"At the same time, most of us seem to be uninterested in changing our laundering behaviors to reduce climate impact."

The new study examined the underlying mechanisms of excessive laundering from a psychological perspective.

It focused on two driving forces that affect washing behavior: environmental identity – how strongly we identify with the group of environmentally conscious people, and how inclined we are to have feelings of disgust.

Doctoral student Klint said: "We humans are constantly faced with different goal conflicts.

"In this case, there is a conflict between the desire to reduce one's washing to save the environment and the fear of being perceived as a disgusting person with unclean clothes.

"Disgust is a strong psychological and social driving force.

"The study shows that the higher our sensitivity to disgust, the more we wash, regardless of whether we value our environmental identity highly.

"The feeling of disgust simply wins out over environmental awareness."

He says that disgust is an "evolutionarily conditioned emotion" which basically functions as a protection against infection or dangerous substances.

The feeling of disgust is also closely related to the feeling of shame so can also have an influence in social contexts.

Klint said: "We humans don't want to do things that risk challenging our position in the group – such as being associated with a person who doesn't take care of their hygiene.

“Here, an evolutionarily rooted driving force is set against a moral standpoint, and in most cases, you're likely to react to that evolutionarily linked emotion."

He says the study shows that today's campaigns and messages to get people to act in an environmentally friendly way have the wrong starting point as they often fail to take into account the psychological aspects behind people's behavior.

Klint said: "It doesn't matter how sensible and research-based an argument you have, if they run counter to people's different driving forces, such as the desire to feel a sense of belonging to a group, then they won’t work."

He says that rather than asking "How do we get people to wash less” or “How do we do it in a more environmentally friendly way?” the focus should instead be on the indirect behavior that leads to the actual washing.

Klint suggests that a better question is instead “How do we get people to generate less laundry, specifically laundry that needs to be cleaned by a washing machine?”

He said: "You do laundry because the laundry basket is full, because your favorite sweater is dirty, or because there is a free laundry timeslot in your shared laundry.

"Therefore, the focus needs to be on what happens before we run the washing machine, i.e., the underlying behaviors that create a need to wash.

"For example, how much laundry we generate, how we sort the clothes in the machine, or when we think the washing machine is full."

One of the study's main suggestions is to encourage people to use clothes more often before they end up in the laundry basket.

Klint said: "It can be about targeting excessive washing, with messages such as 'most people use their T-shirt more than once.'

"But also replacing washing machine use with other actions, such as airing the garments, brushing off dirt, or removing individual stains by hand.

"One way could be to highlight the economic arguments here, as clothes get worn out when they go through the machine."

Study co-author Professor Gregory Peters says that the research is a unique combination of behavioral science and natural science.

He said: "This study is part of a more extensive thesis that goes beyond the usual research framework for LCA – life cycle assessments – and has made it possible to create a more holistic understanding of how we wash and what drives washing behavior."

Peters added: "The direct result we hope for is to contribute to the reduced environmental impact from laundry, but it is possible that the research can be generalized to other areas where behavior and technology interact."