Washing carpets and clothes
Many Finns love to wash carpets on a beautiful summer day. Washing carpets in a lake or a river means, however, loading the water body with nutrients and other undesirable substances - even if you use low-phosphate detergents. Such a wastewater load, though it may seem to be insignificant, may considerably affect a small and sensitive water body.
Laundering and carpet washing should be done in places where the wastewater doesn´t run directly into a water body. The municipal environmental authorities can tell you whether you can find a carpet washing place furnished with a sewer near your summer house.
You can also let the washings infiltrate into the ground. The soil works like a filter and the environmentally undesirable chemicals don´t reach a water body. There are no completely harmless detergents
Detergents have environmentally noxious ingredients, some of which are slowly degradable while others are toxic to aquatic organisms. Detergents containing phosphates should never be used at summer cottages because of the eutrophication problem.
When you buy a detergent, it is always best to choose an environmentally certified product. Such products are furnished with the green-white swan label.
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