However, if you have a newer dishwasher, skip the pre-rinse at the sink. Just scrape food off with a fork. Most newer dishwashers can handle that just fine. And even if you have doubts, try it at least once.

Not ready to turn your dishwasher on?

If it bugs you to leave particles on dishes, use your dishwasher’s pre-rinse or rinse-only cycle. Your dishwasher will use a very small fraction of the amount of water you would use when pre-rinsing dishes under the tap.

Pre-rinsing in the dishwasher typically uses one gallon of water. Pre-rinsing for five minutes under the tap? 25 gallons! (Rinsing figures from Journal of Extension.)

Do you load your dishwasher without pre-rinsing dishes?

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There are a lot of variables involved when measuring hand washing and automatic dishwasher cleaning of dishes.

But if you’re feeling guilty about your nifty kitchen appliance, take comfort in the University of Bonn’s study. This careful study included 113 participants and attempted to control as many variables as possible.

The German study found that dishes cleaned by modern dishwashers were not only cleaner, but that the dishwasher uses less water, energy and soap. Plus, there’s the significant time savings involved with dishwashers. And that’s important if you want to read your favorite blogs!

Get more details from Bonn: A European Comparison of Cleaning Dishes by Hand. The first article under “Publications” explains the experiment in detail.

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Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in July 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family