Dishwashers are now found in most Polish homes. No wonder, they are practical, convenient and make cleaning jobs much easier. However, it is worth considering what is actually more ecological, manual or automatic washing?
More and more people are opting for ecological solutions when choosing home appliances. It’s not just the practical elements that are important then. In the best possible scenario, of course, you can combine these two issues. Before buying it is worthwhile to carefully analyze all the pros and cons. You should calculate both water and electricity consumption, as well as the costs associated with the purchase of necessary detergents. In the case of household appliances, the purchase of capsules, salt and dishwasher detergents will be much higher than the purchase of sponges and liquids, even those ecological. Thus, in the final analysis, manual washing comes out to be more profitable. To minimize costs in the case of automatic dishwashing, it is advisable to fill up the dishwasher thoroughly so that as many dishes as possible are cleaned at one go.
Most people who don’t have a dishwasher at home use running water for washing. Then a lot of life-giving liquid ends up in the sewage system. Statistics show that such practices use from 30 liters to even 40 liters of water when washing more dishes at the same time. Compared to a dishwasher the difference is colossal, especially if you have a large family. A single cycle of a dishwasher consumes 9-10 l of water, which is 3-4 times less than washing by hand. Of course, you can also debate the amount of detergent that then goes down the drain. But in this case the number is close to each other, of course, if you use standard dishwashing liquids. You can also fight with the electricity consumption. A lot depends on your individual habits. In modern dishwashers you can set short programs that thoroughly clean the dishes and at the same time reduce the amount of electricity used. Remember that longer programmes are designed to clean stubborn stains, mainly from pots and pans.
To wash dishes you need to use detergents. Those adapted for dishwashers are usually stronger, they also contain irritants, phosphates and enzymes. Moreover, they have a film on them, which also gets into the sewage and it is extremely difficult to replace them with ecological equivalents, which are simply not available in drugstores. Hand washing, on the other hand, allows us to use self-made detergents that are effective, safe for the environment and for our hands. You can also buy eco-friendly detergent in the store. When eco-washing, simply use a bowl of warm water. You can wash in one and rinse dishes in the other. This way you will use less water, and you only need a few drops of the liquid on a sponge to wash a pile of dishes.
So, based on the data collected, we can conclude that it is more economical to wash in a dishwasher, while it is more ecological to wash in traditional ways. Hopefully, soon the two will be combined and eco-friendly dishwasher detergents will be available in stores.
main photo: pexels.com/Clayton Bunn
