13 June 2023 – 12 million households in the UK are using a dishwasher. But it has now been revealed that three out of five of them are guilty of ‘double dishwashing’.
Dishwashers are a handy appliance that can make life easier, which is probably the reason why 12 million UK households are using one.
However, new research by Utilita Energy has shown that most people are using their dishwasher incorrectly, costing them a staggering £450m per year. And it’s also bad for the environment.
One of the mistakes people are making is ‘double dishwashing’, where they rinse the dishes under the tap before loading up their dishwasher.
Pre-Rinsing Wastes Water And Money
The energy supplier, which was created to help customers to save energy, has found that 60% of dishwasher users pre-rinse their dishes before putting them in the machine.
If this is done with hot water, households pay on average an extra £38 per month. With cold water, households pay £11 per year more on their water bill. But dishwashers have a rinse cycle, so pre-rinsing is wasting money and water.
And it gets worse for the 31% of people who run their dishwasher twice a day. They spend £76 more if they rinse with hot water and £22 if they use cold water.
Utilita Energy has calculated that the average household spends £25.48 on pre-rinsing their dishes. This equates to 4,576 litres of clean water, which is wasted per household every year.
All UK households with a dishwasher combined waste on average so much clean water that you could fill 2,422 Olympic-sized swimming pools with it every year.
Not everyone rinses their dishes the same amount of time though. On average, households rinse their dishes between 30 seconds and two minutes. 42% of households even rinse them until they are completely clean.
This means that some households could save even more money and water.
Water is vital to sustain life on the planet, including us humans. But because of climate change, our water supplies are getting lower, which is bad news for us and the environment.
But the research of the energy supplier has also shown that pre-rinsing has an environmental impact comparable to the carbon emissions created by driving 849 million miles in a standard car. This is the equivalent of driving 34,000 times around the earth’s equator.
The second mistake households make is not using the dishwasher’s eco-mode. This mode lowers the temperature during the wash and rinse cycles, which saves energy. Yet, 62% of dishwasher users have said they have never used this mode.
Even though it could save households on average £34 per year on their electricity bills. And given the recent hike in energy prices, such a saving is very welcome. Yet, 46% of people have said they have never changed the settings of their dishwasher.
This seems a small change, but a powerful one. Not only can you save money, but you also save energy, which will help our environment.
Main Reason For ‘Double Dishwashing’ Fear Of Clogging Up Machine
Utilita Energy has also asked why people pre-rinse their dishes. The main reason given, with 59%, is that people are worried the dishwasher would get clogged up without pre-rinsing.
39% said they did it to keep their appliance clean. And the same amount of people said they wanted to prevent the dishwasher from breaking.
For 37% of people it’s a force of habit and 30% said they didn’t want their dishwasher to start smelling.
But the energy provider has also asked people who don’t pre-rinse for their reasons. 59% said that it was a waste of water. 53% said that there was no sense in doing it as their machine does it.
31% don’t rinse their dishes because rinsing is part of their dishwasher’s cleaning cycle. 25% of respondents said their dishwasher tablets advised them against it. And 7% said they didn’t want to touch dirty plates.
Interestingly, none of the people ‘double dishwashing’ have raised concerns that without it their dishes wouldn’t get clean.
Utilita Energy hopes that by publishing this data they can convince people to stop pre-rinsing their dishes and use the eco-mode. The energy supplier wants people to try it and save money as well as the planet by doing so.
Knowing what our habits are costing us can encourage us to reconsider our behaviours, and in this case, the savings are significant, so should hopefully make households think twice. We can tell households how much money they’ll save, but until they load the dishwasher without pre-rinsing, and see positive results every time, they won’t be convinced.
Archie Lasseter, Head of Sustainability at Utilita Energy
If you have a dishwasher, and you are pre-rinsing your dishes, try it without. You could save yourself money and also have a positive impact on our environment.
