Environmentally friendly laundry method and kit

Abstract

A method of washing laundry, the method comprising washing laundry in an aqueous medium with two separate compositions: a laundry detergent composition comprising from about 1% to about 80% of an alkoxylated ester surfactant and a rinse aid composition comprising from about 0.001% to about 100% of a carboxylic ester hydrolase enzyme, to result in the substantial reduction of foaming. Laundry kits based on the two compositions are also described.

1 . A method of washing laundry, the method comprising washing laundry in an aqueous medium with two separate compositions: 
 (a) a laundry detergent composition comprising from about 1% to about 80% of an alkoxylated ester surfactant; and    (b) a rinse aid composition comprising from about 0.001% to about 100% of a carboxylic ester hydrolase enzyme of a carboxylic ester hydrolase enzyme, to result in the substantial reduction of foaming.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the laundry detergent composition and the rinse aid composition are both added to an aqueous wash medium at the start of washing.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein washing is conducted without a separate rinsing step.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the laundry detergent composition is added at the start of washing and the rinse aid composition is added subsequently in a washing step or a separate rinsing step.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein rinsing is conducted one time.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein washing is carried out by hand.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein washing is conducted in a front-loading laundry washing machine.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the wash load to water weight ratio is less than 1.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the detergent composition is a powder detergent.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the detergent composition is liquid.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rinse aid composition is solid.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rinse aid composition is liquid.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least about 15% of the total surfactant in the laundry detergent composition is the alkoxylated ester surfactant.  
   
   
       14 . A laundry kit comprising: 
 (a) a laundry detergent composition comprising from about 1% to about 80% of an alkoxylated ester surfactant;    (b) a rinse aid composition comprising from about 0.001% to about 100% of a carboxylic ester hydrolase enzyme.