Natulim is a dehydrated detergent that is put in the washing machine with the clothes and, once it comes into contact with water, it dehydrates and replaces traditional products. Put like that, it might seem like just another innovation in the cleaning sector. But it has some peculiarities that make it a sustainable alternative of the first magnitude. Lluís Montull, engineer and founder of the project, explains in a new episode of People.

“Traditional detergent is 90% water and only 10% detergent ingredients. And we realised that we could save this water. With just one strip, we could achieve the same effect,” Montull explains. He adds: “Having to process all this water, in the end, makes us spend a lot more on fuel and a lot more CO₂.” Dehydrated strips, on the other hand, save this entire production process.

Besides saving water, there is yet another reason that makes Natulim’s proposal much more sustainable. All this water in traditional detergents has to be packaged in plastic containers, a material that is not completely recycled. “We have to bear in mind that only 20% of the plastic in the yellow containers is recycled. The rest ends up in landfills,” Montull says. By contrast, dehydrated detergent strips avoid all this plastic waste, because they are packaged in biodegradable cardboard.

But Natulim, which was born in the middle of the pandemic, is not only useful for better recycling, but its two creators, David Weiss and Lluís Montull, have also made sure that all the ingredients contained in their initiative are good for the environment, health and clothes. “We analysed many fabric softeners and realised that they contained many materials that are bad for the planet, even bad for the skin and clothes,” Montull argues.

As a curiosity, Montull explains that the foam that traditional detergents release does not serve a specific purpose, but is added to the product because the consumer associates it with traditional bar soap, which does lather when rubbed on clothes. “In addition, some fabric softeners, when dried on clothes, form a film that can clog the pores of the fabric and this can cause it to smell like sweat, even if you wash it often,” he adds.

That is why Natulim proposes these dehydrated strips, which can be purchased by subscription and received monthly, bimonthly or quarterly, depending on the number of people in the family. The strips are vegan, free of phosphates, parabens, dyes and dioxanes, suitable for sensitive skins, for white or coloured clothes and for any type of washing machine. Montull assures that Catalan society is ready for this change.

If you want to wash your clothes without polluting the planet, 11Onze Recommends Natulim.