SproutAtlas
← All swaps
Cartoon: Tumble dryer → Airer or washing line Sunshine: free.Dryer: not.

Instead of

Tumble dryer Airer or washing line

Why switch

Healthier

Gentle air-drying is kinder to fabrics and elastic than blasting them with heat — and fresh air freshens naturally.

Greener

Tumble dryers are among the home’s hungriest appliances; air-drying a load skips roughly a kilo of CO₂.

The impact

You, per year 30 kg CO₂
All of the world 243 billion kg CO₂ skipped / year

If everyone across the world switched, every year that’s:

  • 243 billion kg CO₂

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Reduce

Spin clothes well first, then air-dry whenever weather and space allow.

Reuse

A folding airer or a line costs little and lasts for years.

Recycle

Keep the dryer for emergencies; a heat-pump model uses far less if you must.

Sources

  1. European Commission — tumble dryers use ≈1.4–2.7 kWh per cycle and are among the home’s most energy-hungry appliances
  2. Lee & Sohn (2025), Resources, Conservation & Recycling — full line drying eliminates the use-phase emissions of clothes drying
← All swaps