By Sofia Perez

Featuring Ancient Rome

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of cleanliness, it was the epoch of dirtiness, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of family, it was the winter of climate change. 

Before I say anything further, I must first thank my mother for raising me to be the kind of upstanding young woman who reads care instructions; separates whites, darks, and reds; and uses vinegar instead of fabric softener. She has shaped me into who I am today in a way that no one else could have. In fact, it is only because of the way she raised me that I have developed an appreciation for the whole process of cleaning. Yet like all the innocent joys of youth, doing my laundry just became a lot more complicated…

It all began the day human beings decided (1) to wear clothing and (2) to wash that clothing, which the Bible dates back to fig leaves in Genesis but I simply date back to “a long time ago”. Ever since clothes and hygiene mattered to society, there have been innovations related to clothes-washing. In Ancient Rome, there was already a sophisticated system in place to ensure everyone’s clothing was cleaned. However back then they didn’t use lye soap nor did they even use a metal washboard. So what did they do? They did what anyone without a washing machine does even today- they took to the laundromat! 

In the ancient world they called what we would consider today a laundromat or dry cleaners a fullonica. Fullers, or fullones, were people who worked in these special places, scrubbing off all the olive oil stains and grime. Now there is a thought still nagging you. But they didn’t have soap!  you insist. Must’ve been gross. Ah, but you haven’t considered everything. The solution to this conundrum will surprise you. Yes, with no soap to assist, the standard fullonica of Rome used human urine. 

…With no soap to assist, the standard fullonica used human urine.

As a side note, urine can also be used in the modern day as a source of electric power, urine-eating bacteria even creating a strong enough current to power a cell phone! Stem cells harvested from urine have also been reprogrammed into neurons and used to grow human teeth. But I digress…

In Ancient Rome, urine was like liquid gold, particularly in the case of laundry services, in which it was used to concoct a sort of ancient detergent consisting of a mixture of water, creta fullonia (i.e. fuller’s earth), a few alkali elements, and urine. Now, apart from being a fun topic to discuss at a formal dinner party, what’s the point of mentioning this? In essence, it is to highlight the resourcefulness of our ancestors in regard to cleanliness. They used what they had, even their own waste. 

They used what they had, even their own waste.

Fast forward to today. The year is 2022, washing machines and dryers are widespread in more developed nations, we no longer use urine as a key component to our detergent, and we frequently use soap. Our clothes are sufficiently clean. It sounds wonderful. That is, until you consider the other side of the story. 

Andersen, A. (n.d.). [Online Image] Pexels. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grayscale-photo-of-washing-machine-2254065/ [Accessed 14 Aug. 2022].

Firstly, there are the carbon emissions released. After all, the clothing and fashion industry has one of the largest carbon footprints of any industry. Just washing and drying a 5kg load of laundry every two days creates nearly 440kg of carbon dioxide emissions in a year, which is about the same mass as a manatee or small walrus. Most of that originates from the dryer. Heating water in a washing machine also adds to this, with an impact that only worsens as the machine gets older. The cumulative impact is daunting when you start to consider in on a larger scale. If you were to just take 1000 households, this would be 440,000kg of carbon emissions in a year, which is equivalent to 1.4 times the weight of the Statue of Liberty.

Secondly is the dizzying amount of water used in the washing machine. In fact, Energy Star claims that the average top loader washer uses 30-35 gallons of water with every load. To give you a comparison, 30 gallons is about 136.38 liters. Assuming you drink roughly 3 liters of water a day, it would take about a month and a half- 45.5 days- to drink the amount of water used in one load of laundry. If you drink a little less water each day, say 2 liters, it would take about 68 days to drink that amount, which is a little over two months. 

Sadly, that isn’t even the whole story, because we haven’t even gotten started on detergent, which often contains toxic chemicals that get into groundwater and negatively influence plant life. These chemicals might also trigger skin irritation and asthma. Even plastic fibers and toxic dyes in your clothing are part of the story, as they get washed away into the sewage system with each load you complete. On a larger scale, the contamination of sewage and groundwater all lead to negative consequences, messing with the delicate ecological balance present in natural settings. 

…the clothing and fashion industry has one of the largest carbon footprints of any industry.

Truth be told, this isn’t a system that will work forever, not only because of how it affects polar bears on melting ice caps or some rare tree frog in the Amazon, but also because it contributes to water insecurity, a rapidly changing climate, erratic weather patterns, allergies, poor maintenance of clothing, and ultimately, a large amount of waste. While the prospect of using urine to make something more clean might seem perplexing, perhaps now we can all gain an appreciation for what the Ancient Romans achieved in their fullonicae. Firstly they achieved cleanliness, which is ultimately what laundry is all about. However they also created a circular system which involved little to no waste or pollution. This is becuse they used the resources readily available to them with a minimal impact on the environment or human health. Their motive for doing so is irrelevant. What’s extraordinary here is the economic and social genius of using waste as a resource.  

After taking this into consideration, I think we should start with a very simple question: Why clean? If you think you know right off the bat, think just a little harder and you’ll realize this is- ironically- a messy question to pose. I’m sure you’d agree that the answer lies somewhere roughly between the forces of disgust, social expectations, and hygiene. When it comes to clothes, the exact reasons for cleaning have become blurred over history, and it would benefit us to recognize first of all, that sometimes we clean when we don’t have to. Yes, sometimes we clean when we don’t have to. If this is true, that just leaves us with the matter of hygiene.

As part of this reflective journey that we are embarking upon together, let’s start with the nitty-gritty semantics. Like the scholarly etymology nerd my father raised me to be, I believe the evolution of words holds a surprising amount of wisdom. So if we want to talk about hygiene in any way, I say we start there. 

If we go way way back, before the French coined the word hygiène in the 1670s, this was a Greek word, hygiene techne, which translates to “the healthful art”, from the word hygies, meaning “living well” and personified as the goddess Hygieia. It was a Greek adjective that was used as a noun by Aristotle to mean “health”. Not surprisingly, it was then considered the foundation of all good health within Greek medicine. This belief has persisted. You’d probably even agree that it’s the foundation to all good health today. 

After all that, how do we use an understanding of hygiene to find a path out of the very sticky mess that is laundry? It is by naming hygiene as a priority. This is ultimately what laundry should be about- clean clothes and healthy, hygienic living. If this is so, why would a hot water setting over a cold water setting hold significant importance? Why would scented detergent be superior to unscented? The list goes on. Laundry is about hygiene. Once we identify this as our primary aim, we are able to make progress toward a system which ticks all the boxes- effective at cleaning, economically sensible, and environmentally friendly. 

Fortunately, today isn’t a day when you have to decide between clean clothing and melting ice caps, and that is what I want to highlight. Your crisp clean laundry can coexist with environmental prosperity. Yes, you read that right- you’re actually allowed to have lovely clean clothes! 

There, that’s all I had to say. If you’re one of the patient individuals who have read all that without abandoning me midway, I must thank you personally for allowing me to remove such a burden from my shoulders. Yes, thank you! Now I can finally feel like I made my contribution to the grand history of laundry. Maybe, if I’ve been persuasive enough, I’ve even convinced you to make a little progress of your own…

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Thought to Action

• Try out Tru Earth eco strips to decrease your use of single-use plastic and your water consumption per load of laundry. Watch this highly amusing ad, Real Men Do Laundry, to find out more. 
• Use a cold water setting when doing your laundry. The Cleaning Institute found that switching your washing machine to the coldest setting, “tap cold”, can cause a single household to reduce their carbon emissions by 864lbs a year, which is equivalent to nine-tenths the weight of a horse. This is because heating the water accounts for almost 90% of the energy used by a washing machine. Cold water is also more delicate on your clothing, preventing it from breaking down as much as hot water does. This means fewer microplastics and toxic dyes are released into the water and prolongs the lifetime of each item. 
• When shopping for appliances, try to purchase Energy Star certified machines, which will help save money, prolong the lifetime of your clothes, and improve your efficiency when washing. 
• Fill up the washing machine as much as possible when completing a load to decrease the loads you have to do. If completing a small load, use the correct water-level setting. 
• Use the high speed option to remove as much water from your clothes as possible, which will decrease the amount of time it takes to dry your clothes. 
• Don’t over-dry clothes. 
• Dry heavier items separate from lighter-weight items. 
• Avoid harsh chemicals that might lead to poor health or environmental degradation.
  • One rule of thumb is to opt for unscented products which might contain the carcinogens acetaldehyde or benzene. 
• Read this article to learn more about what you can do. 

• Dr. Beth Blissman on Catholic Climate Action
• Je-Shawna Wholley on Intergenerational Spiritual Healing
• Urban Planning + Gender Studies: Pioneering Equality in the City
• Dr. David Haberman on Indian River Pollution
• Dr. David R. Loy on Eco-dharma, Eco-activism & Ecological Healing

Bibliography

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cristi.albu@gmail.com (2018). Greek Medicine: THE SIX HYGIENIC FACTORS. [online] Greekmedicine.net. Available at: http://www.greekmedicine.net/hygiene/The_six_Hygienic_Factors.html.

Eagles and Dragons Publishing. (2017). Ancient Everyday – Pee and Laundry in the Roman World |. [online] Available at: https://eaglesanddragonspublishing.com/ancient-everyday-pee-and-laundry-in-the-roman-world/.

https://www.facebook.com/thoughtcodotcom (2018). Check Out This History of Washing Machines. [online] ThoughtCo. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-washing-machines-1992666.

James (2019). The Environmental Impact Of Your Laundry – And What You Can Do About It. [online] Clean Home Guide. Available at: https://cleanhomeguide.co.uk/environmental-impact-of-laundry/.

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The Scrubba Wash Bag. (2018). How People Used to Wash: The Fascinating History of Laundry. [online] Available at: https://thescrubba.com/blogs/news/how-people-used-to-wash-the-fascinating-history-of-laundry.

www.energystar.gov. (n.d.). Clothes Washers. [online] Available at: https://www.energystar.gov/products/clothes_washers.

www.etymonline.com. (n.d.). hygiene | Origin and meaning of hygiene by Online Etymology Dictionary. [online] Available at: https://www.etymonline.com/word/hygiene.

www.oldandinteresting.com. (n.d.). Laundry history 1800s, washing clothes in the 19th century, Victorian and Edwardian laundering. [online] Available at: http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-washing-clothes.aspx.

www.oldandinteresting.com. (2010). Laundry history, washing clothes in middle ages, renaissance, tudor, restoration, colonial, georgian times. [online] Available at: http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-laundry.aspx.