Eleanor STEAFEL and
A Government aide has sparked a heated debate over the need to pre-rinse, says Eleanor Steafel
I‘He thinks spoons, forks etc should be separate. His wife thinks he should get a hobby’
f you want to start a fight among your nearest and dearest, pop a question about dishwasher etiquette on your Whatsapp groups. Then, sit back and watch as they bicker over the merits of a pre-rinse, whether wooden spoons are an acceptable addition to the rapid cycle, and if the eco setting can ever truly cut through the remains of last night’s lasagne. It’s been a long 16 months, but the subject has always been riddled with controversy.
Allegra Stratton, the Prime Minister’s COP26 spokesperson, put the cat among pigeons this week when she wrote in this newspaper that rinsing dishes before loading the dishwasher could be unnecessary. Urging the public to consider the small changes they can make to help the planet, she mused: “Did you know, according to COP26 principal partner Reckitt, who make Finish, you don’t really need to rinse your dishes before they go into the dishwasher?” Stratton’s piece saw Telegraph readers respond in droves.
Many made the case for pre-rinsing, pointing out it’s “a dishwasher, not a waste disposal”.
“I have no doubt that this is why it’s been working perfectly since 1986,” says Pamela Goldsack, from Surrey. “Maintaining an appliance and using it efficiently for over 35 years qualifies as environmentally friendly.” Richard Morris, from Leicestershire, argues that it saves water and energy in the long run. “I use about 10 litres to rinse everything then use a Rapid 27-minute wash ... everything comes out sparkling.”
Many seem to favour handwashing – “a spot of Fairy Liquid and just a bit of elbow grease”. “How big a carbon footprint is left by the manufacture and operation of these devices?” writes Tim Bradbury, from Cheshire. “Try a bowl of hot water, Allegra, less of a micro-step, but quite a stride.”
Yet Finish say modern washers all start with a rinse so not pre-washing your dishes could save 1,000 litres of water a year. Dishwashing, as opposed to handwashing, will already save you 6,800 litres.
Eddie Pelan, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Birmingham, says: “You’ve got a purpose-built, insulated box which is only warming up a small amount of water as you need it compared to getting water from your boiler in an uninsulated sink and the water cooling down quickly.”
An eco setting on a new dishwasher should, he says, be more than capable of washing a relatively under-soiled load with no need for a pre-rinse. A dishwasher should last at least 10 years – so treat it well, he adds.
In Aggie Mackenzie’s house, skipping the pre-rinse is a fate worse than death. “I get what she’s saying about saving water but personally, I always shout at people who put things in the dishwasher coated with bits of rice, bits of herbs, all that stuff that gets clogged up in the filter,” she says.
Mackenzie is a fan of the eco setting, but only when she has time. “It seems to take longer so if I’m in a rush I put it on the normal setting which I think is a higher temperature so it’s presumably using more electricity, but it’s faster.”
Does the no-rinse approach mean your dishes will really be as clean as you’d like? Some studies show washers that contained heavily soiled utensils are more likely to fail hygiene tests but a higher rinsing temperature could help. Others found the trend towards using eco washes with lower heat “may result in decreased hygiene.
Cleaning expert Joyce French says soiling system technology in modern washers means they “assess how dirty the dishes are and how much water pressure is needed to get rid of the gunk”. She adds: “A good dishwasher detergent also has useful enzymes to further break down the food.”
She uses a spatula or kitchen towel to scrape excess food into the bin, claiming this could save “up to 20 gallons of water per dishwasher load”.
French also says correct loading is essential – weighing into what is undoubtedly the most controversial area of debate. Should you include colanders or sieves? How best to stack a cheese grater? One friend is currently locked in a dispute with his wife over cutlery placement. He favours keeping forks, knives, teaspoons and dessert spoons apart for more efficient cleaning and “speedy emptying”. She (quite rightly, in my view) thinks he should get a hobby.
If all else fails, as one Telegraph reader says, there’s always the dog pre-wash: acquire a labrador (Terry Holloway, from Suffolk, says a small pug is just as good); present obliging hound with your smeared plates and have him do the hard work before even turning on your Bosch Serie 2. As energy-saving options go, it isn’t a bad one.