Whirlpool Offers Alternative to Global Hand-Laundering

Navjot Sawhney (center), founder/CEO of The Washing Machine Project, with the Whirlpool team and a Divya manual washer/dryer at a company factory in Puducherry, India.

Providing off-the-grid washers to impoverished populations 

By Alan Wolf, YSN

Whirlpool is working to bring easy-to-operate washer/dryers to underserved communities worldwide where hand-washing clothing is the norm.

According to U.K.-based The Washing Machine Project, Whirlpool’s non-profit partner, some 60% of the world’s population, or roughly 5 billion people, rely on washing laundry by hand. Moreover, 70% of the time that burden falls on women and girls, who spend up to 20 hours a week handwashing apparel and bedding.

To help address the situation, The Whirlpool Foundation and employee volunteers are helping The Washing Machine Project design, assemble and fund the Divya washer/dryer, the world’s first flat-packable manual laundry unit. The hand-cranked product operates without electricity or a connected water source, and reduces the need for the prolonged physical effort usually required to hand-wash laundry, saving users up to 50% of the water and 76% of the time it would otherwise take to hand-wash clothing and bedding.

Named after a homemaker in India whose life was filled with back-breaking chores, the Divya washer is a portable unit that’s built with commercial-grade components and stainless-steel construction and can be recycled at the end of its life.

Divya laundry units, flat-packed and ready for shipping.

“We greatly admire the mission and work of The Washing Machine Project and see an opportunity to help impact more lives collectively than either of us could individually,” said Pam Klyn, executive VP, corporate relations and sustainability, at Whirlpool. “This initiative goes beyond washing clothes; it is about reclaiming time and improving lives for these individuals who will now spend much less time doing laundry, which opens the door to new opportunities.”

In the first five years of its new collaboration with Whirlpool Foundation, The Washing Machine Project plans to distribute Divya washers to 150,000 disadvantaged people in rural and urban areas in India, Mexico, Brazil, the Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Uganda, saving them millions of hours of time.

Since its founding in 2019 by CEO Navjot Sawhney, a former Dyson engineer, the organization has provided Divyas to families and communities in India, Iraq, Lebanon, the U.S., Mexico, and Uganda. Besides its partnership with Whirlpool, the grassroots social enterprise is joining forces this year with international development and humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Save the Children, Oxfam, Care International and Plan International.

“We are honored to partner with the Whirlpool Foundation, whose legacy as a pioneer in home appliance innovation is only superseded by their passion to foster community development and improve life at home for people around the world,” Sawhney said. “This collaboration is a testament to what can be achieved when compassion meets technology. Together we are set to revolutionize laundry practices globally, paving the way for a more equitable and prosperous future for hundreds of thousands of people.”

For more information, visit TheWashingMachineProject.org.

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