The Washing Machine Project Supported By Whirlpool Foundation
Reclaiming time, improving lives.
More than half the global population is washing clothes by hand which can take up to 20 hours per week. To help address this, the Whirlpool Foundation is supporting The Washing Machine Project, a grassroots organization that provides off-grid manual washing machines to people in low-income and displaced communities who don’t have access to stable electricity and/or running water. Together, we’ll deliver thousands of manual washing machines to communities and households across the world over the next five years. The collaboration is expected to impact an estimated 150,000 people and improve their quality of life, saving time for learning and income-generating activities.
Whirlpool Corporation employees are supporting the initiative with their talents and time. Whirlpool engineers are helping The Washing Machine Project refine the design and creating assembly lines allowing employee volunteers to assemble machines. The assembly components can be replicated or transported to engage and involve employees in multiple regions. These manual washing machines are then distributed in communities around the globe with The Washing Machine Project managing the distribution of the devices.
~60% of the global population¹, relies on hand washing
Follow our journey with The Washing Machine Project
¹The report estimates the resource consumption of roughly 590,000,000 washing machines in 38 countries with about 2.3 billion people, which is about one third of the world population.” [1] According to various sources, including the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, only 2 billion people today have access to washing machines, while the remaining 5 billion individuals, particularly women, resort to hand washing clothes, a labor-intensive and time-consuming task involving fetching water, heating it, and manual washing. [2][3][4] Notably, Hans Rosling, a renowned data analyst, states that since the 1950s, washing machines have become ubiquitous for approximately 2 billion people worldwide. [5] Rosling also highlights that around 2 out of 7 billion people globally have access to washing machines, leaving approximately 5 billion individuals, or 71.4%, who still hand wash their clothes. [6] The global population rose to 6.9 billion in 2010, with nearly all of that growth occurring in the world’s developing countries. [7] Utilizing the mathematical equation ((6.9 – 2.3) / 6.9) * 100 = 66.6%, we can approximate that around 60% of the world’s population washes clothes by hand.
