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Salad Spinner Inspires Eco Washer/Dryer

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One of the more novel entrants in the Greener Gadget design contest this year was this hand operated washing machine and spin dryer – just for those times when you need to wash a few things right away and do not want to wash a full load of laundry.

Perhaps, coming back from the gym, a way to wash your sweaty running gear back in your apartment or in the dorm. Or perhaps your swimming togs after a day at the pool.

You actually hand pump this little device to set its washing motion, and then after draining, it spins to drain the soapy water out. Then you refill with water from the faucet, and rinse, then drain out the water, and set the spin dryer to clear it of water.

The inspiration was the salad spinner:

“While re-engineering and re-designing a salad spinner, we learned resourceful women were buying salad spinners to wash their delicates,” says the RKS Design Team. “This sparked the idea that the salad spinner technology we innovated could be used to create a portable, hand-powered laundry machine that would be far more appropriate for the task, than a salad spinner.”

There’s a lot of benefits:

– Eco-conscious
– No wasting of water and energy by using big machines for small loads
– Gray water can be re-used for watering plants, flushing, etc.
– Made from recycled materials
– Ideal for small “in-between” loads and delicates
– Can be used anywhere
– Saves trips to Laundromat and dry cleaner
– Big enough for a small load, but small enough for easy storage

As the inventors say: “When eco-friendly soap is used, the water can be reused for watering plants or flushing toilets.”

For now Laundry POD is a great idea in search of a manufacturer.
Via Gizmag