According to new research, festival season leaves washing machines working flat out to deal with an overload of mud-encrusted, dusty and sweat-covered clothing. Young adults aged 16 to 30 drag home an average of 39 filthy items – including eight pairs of socks, seven pairs of pants, seven t-shirts, and five hoodies – from a big weekend event like Glastonbury. And with the famous festival in full swing this week, parents across the country are bracing themselves for the inevitable laundry apocalypse.
To save the nation’s washing machines from post-festival overload, British Gas is launching The Wash Pit – a giant pop-up laundrette – on Monday, June 30th. Located at Leigh Delamere Eastbound Services, a popular stop on the M4 for Glastonbury-goers heading home, the facility is designed to lighten the laundry load before it even reaches the front door. Bookable for free via Eventbrite, The Wash Pit will be powered by solar energy and sit inside an electric vehicle that has been charged during PeakSave hours, making it cost effective and better for the environment.
Catherine O’Kelly, Managing Director of British Gas Energy, said: “Our research shows that young adults continue to lean on the family home, especially after big weekends like Glastonbury with parents happy to help. However, we understand how that impacts households, from energy bills to laundry loads, so The Wash Pit is our way of saving parents’ energy – for the home and themselves. Whether it’s through half-price electricity on Sundays with PeakSave, or same-day engineer visits when things go wrong, we are here to take care of things for our customers when it matters most.”
The poll of 2,000 parents found that 92% believe their teens and 20-somethings are still draining the household energy, whether they’ve officially moved out or not. Even 80% of empty nesters say their grown-up children regularly pop home to charge their phones (65%), take long showers (61%), watch hours of TV (49%), and of course, dump their laundry (31%).
According to the study, conducted by British Gas, parents run six loads of laundry a week just for their kids, coming in at nearly nine hours of machine time. And it doesn’t stop there – the average Gen Z enjoys 13 showers at the family home, each lasting an average of 18 minutes. Adult children also use their parents’ oven for an average of nine hours a week and have the TV on for up to 20 hours, regardless of whether anyone’s watching or not.
It’s no surprise then, that 67% of parents polled admit to recently shouting the age-old line: “Shut that door – were you born in a barn?!” Yet despite the inevitable hit to their energy bills, most parents aren’t slamming the door shut – in fact, 72% of Brits say they wouldn’t have it any other way. Even with an average of four energy-related squabbles each week, parents remain happy to help, seeing it as simply part of what it means to be a family.
Parents’ Top 10 Teen Energy Peeves:
- Charging their phones and gadgets for hours – 65%
- Leaving lights blazing in every room – 63%
- Taking unnecessarily long showers – 61%
- Leaving the telly on all day – 49%
- Overusing kitchen gadgets (air fryer, toaster, kettle…) – 38%
- Turning up the thermostat without asking – 24%
- Leaving the windows open with the heating on – 23%
- Forgetting to turn off the oven – 18%
- Running the bath to the brim – 17%
- Leaving the oven on for longer than needed – 16%
The Wash Pit will be operating on June 30th between 11am-6pm at Leigh Delamere Eastbound Service Station, between Junction 17 and 18, M4 Eastbound, Chippenham SN14 6LB. Slots for a speedy wash and dry are limited and can be booked on Eventbrite at the link here.