We now wash our clothes more than ever before thanks to technological advances making it easier and cheaper to do laundry. The average household in Europe does up to five loads of laundry a week and bigger machines mean more energy and water are being consumed. Access to washing machines has also increased, rising from 30 per cent of the world’s households in 2010 to 80 per cent in 2024. The ease of throwing something in the laundry bin and concern about being seen as clean have us washing our clothes even when they aren’t really dirty. But, from the microplastics shed by our garments to the e…