The impact of laundry on the climate

Research released every year indicates that the laundry is one of the most

resource-intensive human activities, with up to 60% of carbon dioxide emissions come from household laundry due to its significant demand for water and energy. Whether using washing machines or washing clothes manually, keeping garments clean inevitably impacts the environment to some degree.

However, there are still some improvements we could do to make it less harmful. What we need to do is adjusting the laundry process slightly, such as choosing energy-efficient washing machines, washing in cold water, applying shorter wash cycles, and drying the garments in the air. These are simple tips that everyone could do to help with the situations.

Another major factor to mitigating environmental impacts is from the laundry detergents used; and both the ingredients and manufacturing methods of the detergent should be considered. Only about 15% of typical laundry detergent ingredients are readily biodegradable and renewable. Although most of the surfactants, polymers, and other ingredients achieve the excellent performance we expect from modern laundry detergents, the continued use of fossil resources is the opposite of a net-zero future. Whatever the ingredients are used for laundry detergent, they come from finite resources, some of which directly contribute to climate change.

As individuals, we have nothing to do with the source of electricity provided and the amount of water used per load for washing machine; but we could decide which washing detergent to use and how frequantly we wash our garments. Picupi is here to provide an option of more eco-friendly washing detergent as progress towards zero-waste and low-carbon laundry.

Every ton matters for reducing carbon footprint

Climate change is one of the most urgent crises of our time. It is imperative to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which is the main factor that causes climate change.

550 billion tons — that's the amount of carbon dioxide humans emitted into the atmosphere in 2021. By 2030, this figure needs to be reduced by 45%; by 2050, the number needs to reach net zero to keep global warming below 1.5°Celsius. Therefore, even every ton saved in the production and consumption of detergents is crucial. This is where EcoCal® Laundry Detergent comes into play.

Manufacturing, as one of the world's most dynamic industries, accounts for approximately one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions. This fact reminds us to reduce and reverse climate change from a manufacturing perspective. Among them, laundry detergent, as a consumer product, causes the most extensive damage to the environment. There is an urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, and low-carbon manufacturing is a good solution.

New packaging of EcoCal® Laundry Detergent reduces carbon emissions by 24.8%

Having environmental sustainability as the core of our concepts, we designed our EcoCal® products with a circular economy approach. The life of our products all start with used and unwanted gold clam shells, milk bottles, and waste paper.

To ensure our products are truly traceable and 100% recyclable, we collaborate with verified third-party supply chains, including Da Fon Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., Living Fountain Plastic Industrial Co., Ltd., and Cheng Loong Paper Corp. to verify the sources and components of our products. We hope that the changes we make could have a greater impact.

First of all, we recycle freshwater-cultivated gold clam shells from Hualien

Li Chuan Aquafarm in Taiwan. High-temperature calcination to the shells results in food-grade "EcoCal®" powder as a natural sterilizing and decontaminating agent, and it is exclusively patented as one of the materials of laundry detergent. Having been seen as food waste before, these gold clam shells now have a new journey within our hands. According to statistics from the Ministry of Environment, 1 ton of food waste could reduce 0.256 tons of carbon dioxide when composted. With approximately 3,000 tons of golden clam shells recycled annually for "EcoCal®", it leads to an annual reduction of 768 tons of carbon dioxide emissions!

We collaborate with Da Fon Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., the first comapny in Asia to be awarded the DER BLAUE ENGEL as post-consumer recycled plastic pellet producer. According to the ISO 14067: 2018 (carbon footprint) verification report, the carbon footprint of rHDPE produced by Da Fon Environmental is 0.54 kg CO2e per kilogram, while HDPE has a carbon footprint of 1.92 kg CO2e per kilogram; that is equivalent to 72% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to HDPE.

From material procurement, manufacturing, packaging, transportation, to disposal after usage, the carbon footprint throughout the lifecycle of our 550ml EcoCal® Laundry Detergent is verified according to ISO 14064-3: 2019. Compliance with ISO 14067: 2018 requirements is also confirmed.

After six months of improvements for production process, the initial Carbon Footprint Verification data shows that the second-generation of laundry detergent reduced the emissions of carbon dioxide by 24.8% compared to the first-generation. The estimated total reduction in carbon emissions is 112.328 metric tons CO2e/2023, based on calculations for 7,000 bottles of 550ml laundry detergent.