PSA: It Turns Out You Don't Need To Pre-Rinse Your Dishes Before Loading The Dishwasher

Lazy washers rejoice!

Stephanie

• Published in Interesting
• December 3, 2020

It's a topic many of us have probably argued about with our partners or roommates from time to time. Do you need to pre-rinse the dishes before loading them into the dishwasher, or is it a waste of time and water?

Well, as it turns out - according to some detergent labels, such as Cascade - we should NOT be pre-rinsing! Apparently, the dishwasher detergent can't do its job correctly unless your dishes are properly dirty, and pre-rinsing them can actually inhibit the products from working.

Dishwashing detergents contain enzymes that are designed to attach to food particles. So, by pre-rinsing the dishes, you're leaving the enzymes with nothing to cling to.

Of course, you should scrape off any large pieces of food - otherwise, you'll be cleaning your dishwasher filter every day (yuck). But without any leftover goop on your dishes, the detergent will just be washed down the drain without stopping on your dishes first.

Not only is the pre-rinsing process a waste of your precious time - around 230 hours per year - it is also a waste of water - up to 6,000 gallons annually!

While hand-washing your dishes uses around 8-27 gallons of water, a modern dishwasher uses between 3 and 5 gallons.

If you're not going to run the dishwasher right away, then yes, you will need to pre-rinse. But even then, it would be environmentally better to run a pre-rinse cycle in your dishwasher than it would be to rinse manually.

So, lazy washers rejoice! Imagine what we can do with that extra 230 hours per year!

Stephanie