Clean Or Green Machine?

Laundry of clothes, in European households, has a considerable environmental impact. Running a washing machine, uses lots of water and electricity. It also generates discharge, containing detergents; softeners, along with the 'dirt'. That discharge often also has microplastics, shed from artificial fabrics. Fairly obviously, environmental efficiency dictates that clothes should only be washed, when dirty. A study carried out at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenberg, Sweden, claims that folk, are poor judges of when they should run their washing machines (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/13/clean-v-green-disgust-eco-ideals-laundry-study). The study has a number of obvious limitations. It's based on self-reports (people are not always accurate reporters of their actions) by only 2000 people in a single, large European city (Gothenberg). The sample was clearly limited to urbanised folk. Fear of being perceived, as someone wearing dirty clothing, appeared to be the prime reason for folk running their washing machine. Many people, in the sample, clearly placed clean items in the wash 'just in case'. This appeared true, whether the subject was or wasn't concerned about environmental issues. Fairly obviously, we could establish if this is a general phenomenon, by carrying out similar exercises in other countries and different types of location (e.g. rural; agricultural; fishing communities etc.). It might even be possible to devise detector mechanisms, superior to the 'sniff test' for our clothing.