Bathing Beauties: Organic Bath Linens
Keep bath time beneficial with organic linens made from renewable resources.
September/October 2009
By Nancy Christie
 |
Pottery Barn's organic cotton towels are processed in certified environmentally friendly facilities.
Photo Courtesy Pottery Barn
|
What you wrap yourself in after bathing can be just as important as the organic products you use while soaking or showering. Choosing bath linens made of organically grown fibers and processed without chemicals minimizes exposure to toxins and helps reduce pesticide and chemical use. When shopping for bath linens, avoid synthetic dyes, which contain heavy metals and other chemicals that can trigger allergic reactions, and chlorine-bleached materials, which release dioxin into the atmosphere. Look for phrases such as “organic dyes,” “made without bleaches or dyes” or “made without heavy-metal dyes.”
“Natural dyes aren’t the only eco-friendly option,” says Carter Oosterhouse, green home expert and host of HGTV’s Carter Can and Red Hot & Green. “Low-impact fiber-reactive dyes, clay/dirt dyes and ‘color-grown’ dyes also do the trick and are eco-friendly.”
RELATED CONTENT
A California couple's off-the-grid home includes a bathroom that showcases its artist owner's handm...
How to apply the Japanese ritual of the bath to your life....
Environmental programs at Warner Brothers Studios divert 17 tons of construction materials from Cal...
Revamp a plain shower curtain with a fun leaf print....
Bath linens
Wrapping yourself in a cloud of cotton may seem like the perfect end to your shower or bath, but conventional cotton production is far from clean. “Conventional cotton is one of the most polluting crops in the world because of the amount of pesticides needed to grow it,” says Kim Carlson, author of Green Your Work: Boost Your Bottom Line While Reducing Your Carbon Footprint (Adams Media, 2008). “The toxic pesticides and herbicides used in growing cotton accumulate and persist in the environment and in the actual fiber, potentially releasing over the life of the towel.”
Even linens marketed as “eco-friendly” can have hidden environmental issues, Oosterhouse says. Wood-pulp textiles might originate in unsustainable forests, and bamboo could be processed with toxic chemicals.
Read labels carefully, says Lisa Beres, a certified green building professional and co-owner of the online store Green Nest. “The terms ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘nontoxic’ are not regulated by any government entity and can be abused by marketers,” she says. “The only way for consumers to have assurance by third-party verifications is to look for certifications that actually stand for something.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates organic certification of crops, including cotton. However, the USDA only certifies organic cotton, not finished linens, so it’s important to check how products are processed. The U.S. supply of organic cotton is not large enough to keep up with demand, Beres says, and products made overseas may display other certifications. Look for certifications such as the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), the Control Union Certification (formerly Skal International), Oeko-Tex, EKO Sustainable Textile, Organic Exchange, ECOCERT, and International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).
Page: 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Next >>