The day I read that the average dishwasher uses 3.5 gallons of water per load while a person hand washing the same sized load uses 15 to 16 gallons was the day I stopped using my automatic dishwasher. Considering the fact that my dishwasher was so ineffective I was basically doing both, I figured I was using just under 20 gallons of water per load! I had to figure out how to do my dishes by hand without wasting all that water. Here’s what I found out.

Greener hand washing
Choose a nontoxic, vegetable-based dishwashing soap. Check out the offerings from Seventh Generation [1], Earth Friendly Products [2] or Ecover [3].

Scrape the dirty dishes and stack. Fill one side of your sink or a plastic tub with hot, soapy water and the other side of your sink or another tub with rinse water. To make your water last longer, start with the dishes that are least dirty, like glass and flatware, and progress from there. Save the greasy pots and pans for last. Rinse and place clean dishes on a drying rack. Change the water in sinks or tubs as needed.

Greener automatic dishwashing
If your dishwasher is more effective than mine, there are still a few things you can do to make it even greener. Look for a detergent that contains mostly plant and mineral-based ingredients and that is fragrance-, chlorine-, dye- and phosphate-free, like the dishwasher offerings from the aforementioned brands.

To conserve energy, load your dishes so you’re not wasting any space. That said, don’t cram it to the point that water can’t flow around each item to clean. Arrange flatware so individual pieces don’t overlap or stack. That means don’t put all the forks in one place. And although it’s easier to empty when you arrange plates by size, they’ll be cleaner if you mix the sizes together so the water flows more freely around each plate.

Run the dishwasher during off-peak hours and on the lowest setting that will clean your dishes. If you’re in the market for a new dishwasher, look for one that is Energy Star [4]rated.

And finally, if you're really serious about conservation, you can always take your dirty dishes in the shower with you in the morning and make double use of the hot water and soap you're already using.

We kid, we kid. When facing pending eco-doom (and/or a mountain of dirty dishes), it always helps to have a sense of humor. Happy cleaning!