Fighting Climate Change, One Laundry Load at a Time
Every material gets reused.”
In 2009, Novozymes scientists teamed up with Procter & Gamble to develop an enzyme that could be used in liquid detergents for cold-water washes.
Their work is helping the company develop enzymes for laundry and dishwasher detergents
that would require less water, or that would work just as effectively at lower temperatures.
Lowering the temperature on a washing machine cycle to cold water from 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) reduces energy consumption
by at least half, according to the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products, an industry group.
As a result of that low natural temperature, they do not require the heat and pressure typically used in washing machines and other laundry processes.
“We think there are a lot of systems and processes in nature
that are extremely resource efficient,” said Gerard Bos, director of the global business and biodiversity program at the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Switzerland.
In the quest for a more environmentally friendly detergent, two scientists at the company, Novozymes, regularly trudge through the mud, hunting for oyster mushrooms
that protrude from a fallen beech or bracken fungi that feast on tough plant fibers.
But in China, members of the growing middle class like Shen Hang are upgrading washing machines
and turning to more expensive, higher-quality detergents.
