I went out for a meal last night. I wore a smart shirt and trousers. Normally they would be thrown straight into the wash basket when I went to bed because they stunk of smoke. This morning I had a good look at them. I’d only worn them for about 3 hours, I had a good sniff and they smelt perfectly fine.
Deciding they could go back in my wardrobe I suddenly realised that an added and unexpected bonus of the new law banning smoking in public places could be the saving of much wear and tear on millions of washing machines and even tumble dryers.
This would in turn result in a big reduction of water usage, laundry detergent and electricity.
I’m sure there are people who would want to wash something just because they’d worn it for an hour but there must be many like myself who are happy to put something back in the wardrobe to wear another time as long as they don’t smell of sweat or smoke. At least I hope there are otherwise I might be seen as being odd. I’m sure a substantial percentage of general laundry being washed is totally unnecessary – especially from teenagers.
There was an item on the news last week showing a dry cleaning company who are struggling after seeing a substantial drop in custom after the smoking in public places ban. People no longer need to freshen up their suits after a lunch session in a pub or after an evening out. It just goes to show that every time something changes it affects something else – often in an unexpected way.
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