14 DAY TRIAL // That lovely smell of clean clothes that pretty much everybody adores comes at a hefty price, and we're not talking about the cost of detergent and fabric softener. There are a lot of socks in this world, and keeping them all dirt-free requires a whole lot of water.
This might come as a bit of a shock, seeing how Earth is often referred to as the blue planet, but the fact of the matter is that our world's freshwater resources are fairly limited. Hence, having lots of people do their laundry every other day puts tremendous pressure on natural ecosystems.
Luckily, one company dubbed Xeros Ltd. appears to have found a solution to this problem. In a nutshell, this company is in the business of making and marketing so-called waterless washing machines that use polymer beads to clean clothes.
The Xeros technology
As detailed by Click Green, Xeros washing machines replace much of the water normally used to clean clothes with polymer beads. The beads work by agitating clothing and lifting dirt and stains off your favorite shirts and socks.
Once removed from fabrics, the dirt and stains are absorbed by the beads. At the end of the washing cycle, the polymer beads are captured by the machine and can be reused several hundred times. When they finally lose their ability to clean clothes, they can be recycled.
The folks behind Xeros claim that, apart from the fact that they use about 75% less water, their washing machines deliver noteworthy savings in terms of power consumption. Thus, they require about 50% less energy to keep up and running. Besides, they use only half the amount of detergent regular machines need.
Not just bragging
It is understood that, presently, several such innovative washing machines are being used by customers in the UK's commercial laundry sector. Sterling Linen Services and White Rose Laundries count themselves among these customers.
Xeros say that, over the course of just six months, their washing machines made it possible for these customers to save about 2.5 million liters of water. This drop in water consumption translated into significant financial gains and also helped the company's customers improve on their ecological footprint.
“To save 2.5 million litres of water across our customer base in just six months is a significant achievement, and we expect the water and energy savings to increase as customers use the machines more intensively and new contracts are initiated.”
“Worldwide water prices are rising and water saving is at the frontier of a new technology revolution, with the Xeros bead cleaning system driving the biggest change in clothes washing for 60 years,” Xeros CEO Bill Westwater says in a statement.
Admittedly, it will probably be a while until us ordinary folks start using polymer beads instead of water to wash our clothes. Still, the fact remains that this technology has the potential to forever transform commercial laundries and other industrial washing operations.