The Search for an Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent was Harder Than I Thought!

Wow, have I been through a lot of laundry detergents — tabs, powders and multiple strips. I've rated them below for your convenience. FYI, I'm sensitive to scents.

After all the below research on different brands, I was recently at Costco and I saw a bucket of good ol' laundry powder made by Kirkland (lemon scent). Why did we stop using powder detergent? It used to come in a cardboard box - Totally eco-friendly! I was going to pass it by because it came in a big plastic bucket but then I realized I needed a bucket! Two birds with one stone! FYI, it works great but it has a really strong scent!

That said, here's what I found:

Recently Added - I was one of the first on the "Laundry Strip Bandwagon!" Then I found out that both the strips (all the ones I list here) and most pods contain PVA microplastics that are quite controversial. I've done a lot of reading on them and the answer I kept coming up with is PVA does biodegrade but it is still plastic and the majority of it out there is a synthetic polymer derived from petrochemicals so I'm no longer using them. If you want to read a quick article on PVA, this one in the Washington Post is great.

PODS:

Blueland pods (32¢ a load): NO PVA!!! These cleaned great, easy on the nose and are TRULY PLASTIC FREE! I stopped using them because they were expensive but they've really come down in price! When I'm out of my Costco bucket, I'll be ordering Blueland again!

Molly Suds (26¢ a load): I haven't used these but they're wrapped in PVA plastic so I'm not going to try them.

STRIPS:

First, lets get something straight. Most of the "strips" are square and you can rip them in half for smaller loads. They companies then say "20¢ a load" but I have a family and I don't do small loads so my pricing is for a full square sheet!

HeySunday Strips (41¢ a load): Worked well but the smell was too strong for me.

True Earth Strips (64¢ a load): My favorite - just enough scent and cleaned like a charm! But expensive!

Sheets Strips (40¢ a load): I didn't feel my clothes got as clean with these

Cleanomic Sheets (62¢ a load) - They worked fine but I had a horrible experience with this company (I'll blog about it soon) and will never buy from them again. They're also very expensive!

Bottom Line: Blueland is the winner for me. As soon as I'm done with my Costco Bucket, I'll be purchasing their truly eco-friendly pods!