5 Tips to Use Your Dishwasher in a More Eco-Friendly Way

Your dishwasher uses the same amount of water no matter how many dishes are in it – unless you have a setting for less water. It is best to wait until you have a dishwasher full of dishes to wash it. This reduces the amount of soap you need to use and the amount of water you use to get your dishes clean.

It is all too common for a homeowner to essentially wash their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Yes, you need to get rid of particles of food but you do not need to rinse. Instead, take a brush – or even a fork – and scrape the plates down. This gets rid of the particles without unnecessarily wasting water.

If your dishwasher has a setting labeled “eco-friendly,” use it. If it does not, then consider washing your dishes at a lower temperature. If you are washing stock pots with a lot of dried on food then you may need the hottest temperature but your average load does not. The cooler the water you use, the less energy is used.

If you are one of the growing number of Californians using solar panels, run your dishwasher during the day so that you will save on electricity used.

If you have not yet bought a dishwasher, or it is time to replace yours, consider an eco-friendly dishwasher. This means looking at Energy Star models and comparing the amount of energy and water they use. It also means investing in a unit that is likely to last for longer – after all, even the eco-friendliest dishwasher won’t be doing much for the environment if it ends up in a landfill after just a few years.