Pending the many "suggestions" we are receiving in view of energetically difficult periods, the most popular ones concern clothing and personal hygiene.
Shorter showers, better if not daily, and laundry worn longer to avoid frequent washing. I will gloss over the effectiveness of these precepts, and I will limit myself to introducing the subject.
Dry cleaning to "get by" involving fewer washing machines also has problems. Dry cleaning uses chemicals that can have catastrophic consequences for the environment and human health.
Time Oxwash, a British startup that works for individuals and companies, has developed a complete system to improve sustainability dry cleaning and commercial laundry.
Oxwash, ozone mobile laundry
Oxwash's solution revolves around "wet" washing of laundry: a method that replaces aggressive solvents with biodegradable detergents. The company was founded in 2017 by scientist Kyle Grant and engineer Tom de Wilton, fed up with the "unreliable" washing machines on the Oxford University campus.
In addition to sustainable detergents, the process also uses "ozone technology" to deodorize and sanitize laundry at lower temperatures than traditional commercial laundry processes. Procedure similar to that used in the sterilization of hospitals and during space missions.
To further improve sustainability, Oxwash uses electric vans and bikes for order pickup and delivery. And not only. It also has robots that help iron and fold on a large scale. The company recovers and recycles the water used, and filters over 95% of the microfibers dispersed during washing. An artificial intelligence (AI) identifies the garments and materials and adjusts the washing accordingly.
Clean laundry, low impact
According to the company, Oxwash's goal is to demonstrate that laundry can be done without a net impact on our ecosystems and communities. A huge challenge, "but as engineers, scientists and humans facing climate collapse," the presentation reads, "we are determined to face the challenge head on."
With global energy prices soaring and water scarcity looming, innovators increasingly look to energy-intensive laundry washing as an industry to reform.
Oxwash is just a vanguard, the best is yet to come.
