There is a battle brewing about socks, undies and T's flapping in the breeze.
It's a battle to keep people from hanging their laundry out to dry.
The majority of Home Owners Associations and Neighborhood Associations across the country, including here in the KC Metro, ban laundry lines. But there is a growing rebellion where, it seems, everyone is trying to go green. Even with their bleached whites.
Enter Project Laundry List.
The website states Project Laundry List is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization which aims to demonstrate that personal choices can make a difference for the Earth and its people.
On the one sock, automatic dryer users argue hanging clothes outside is ugly and decreases their home values.
On the other, laundry hangers say their clothes last longer, they use less energy, and save money.
I spoke with a rep at Home Owner's Association Services here in KC. I asked if they knew if local associations ban clotheslines. They said, "they do". When I asked which ones they said they couldn't tell me.
Huh?
"Well, then", I said, "can you tell me which associations you represent."
Nope.
Hmmmm.
I'm assuming, then - and I'll assume this until I find out differently - that home owner's associations and neighbors don't want to publicize their adament efforts against going green.
Is a clothesline really such a bad thing?
Some states are actually in the process of considering banning the clothesline bans so many associations enforce.
An article I read on this issue (and I read several) punched the numbers.
At last count, in 2005, there were 88 million dryers in the US, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. Annually, these dryers consume 1,079 kilowatt hours of energy per household, creating 2,224 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions.
On a side note, the Project Laundry List site has a 'store' where you can buy what it claims to be the greenest of products. There are some nice laundry drying racks, for what seem to be reasonable prices.
I particularly like the wooden cannon wall rack. It accordian folds back into it's mounted shelf-like home. There's a similar one on Ballard Design's website.
It seems much less likely to fold in on itself as I'm loading it than the current drying racks my family's using.
On one last related note, researching for this post has me excited about the idea of hanging my laundry outside. The sun-kissed warmth, the freshness...the time spent outside while unfarmiliarly pinning the corners of moistened, heavy fabric to a tightly-stretched twine. But, with several in the family suffering from allergies, I've heard hanging clothes and sheets and towels outside can cause allergens to imbed in the fabrics, leading to increased sniffles for their wearers.
I've got a call into a local allergy clinic to see if this is, in fact, true. I'll update here.
Dr. Jeff Wald from KC Allergy and Asthma called back. He says, "we recommend that patients do NOT do that; it makes allergies much worse. Wet clothes collect pollen and molds and when people wear them they can cause a lot of problems."
Thanks, Dr. Jeff, for the info.