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At a Glance: The Best Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent:
Making your home more eco-friendly and reducing the amount of waste you produce can often seem like two super overwhelming goals. One of the best ways to make these goals more manageable is to start with one, everyday household product and consciously decide to replace what you usually buy with a different, earth-friendly brand. An easy starting point: switching to an eco-friendly laundry detergent, and we’ve rounded up some of the best brands to help you get started.
The Best Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergents
Taking the step to switch to eco-friendly laundry detergent is a small action that can have a big clean impact. While some companies promote their laundry detergent as eco-friendly, all-natural, or just “green,” there’s no cohesive criteria for what those labels mean. While making this list, we considered factors such as eco-label, detergent type, and cleaning effectiveness based on personal laundry testing by our editors, as well as customer ratings from well-trusted products.
1. Tide Purclean Liquid Laundry Detergent
This liquid laundry detergent from Tide is the most effective “green” detergent we’ve ever tested from any of the big name brands. Made from 75% plant-based materials like coconut oil, soy and corn, you’ll also find it free from any dyes, chlorine and optical brighteners. While they could’ve just stopped at what’s inside the bottle, on the outside, it’s also produced at a zero waste manufacturing site using 100% renewable wind power electricity. We tried the Honey Lavender-scented version, and while we would’ve liked a little more staying power from the fragrance in our load, overall it got the job done and cleaned stains effectively in both hot and cold washes.
2. Sheets Laundry Club Laundry Sheets
Amazon
Shark Tank viewers may recognize Sheets Laundry Club laundry sheets, but they stand out from the pack for a reason. Simply drop one sheet of concentrated detergent into your washer for an eco-friendly clean. Sheets’ detergent is sensitive-skin friendly and we found it really softened our clothes while also ridding them of dirt, stains, and importantly, strong odors (coffee spills didn’t stand a chance). Not only is their detergent formula free of harsh ingredients and eco-friendly, but the packaging cuts down waste and is recyclable (each box comes with 50 sheets).
3. Dropps Lavender Eucalyptus Pods
Dropps
If the Tide pod fiasco of the 2010s taught us anything, it’s that there’s something so playful about fresh laundry pods — but this pick is also better for the environment. Dropps’ eco-friendly laundry option uses 100% plastic-free packaging, plus the pods themselves are free of excess water, artificial dyes and colors that don’t clean your clothing. Like a little “drop” of luxury, their Lavender Eucalyptus scented pods leave a crisp, relaxing fragrance that feels like a portal to the spa just opened up in your laundry room.
4. Branch Basics The Concentrate
Branch Basics
Branch Basics’ concentrate is made from non-toxic, natural ingredients, like chamomile flower extract and decyl glucoside (often used in baby products) and gave our laundry a fresh, no-nonsense clean. Each Laundry Kit also comes with an oxygen booster and laundry bottle, and it’s super easy to quickly pour water and the Concentrate into the refillable bottle, mix it up, and pour in 3/4 of a cap to clean an entire load. We were surprised how effectively it brightened our whites and deodorized our clothes given that it’s not just for laundry — the Concentrate can also pull double duty as a multi-purpose cleaner (refills are available here), and in between loads I’ve used it to remove dirt, grease and grime from around my kitchen. It’s just a pure and simple clean.
5. Charlie’s Soap Laundry Powder
Amazon
If you don’t want to deal with the (at times) cost-ineffectiveness of pods or messy laundry liquid, then Charlie’s Soap wins when it comes to ease-of-use. The powder can be added straight into your washing machine, comes with measurement instructions on the back of the package so you know how much to use. Each bag contains just four ingredients and one tablespoon per loads — we were skeptical at first when it didn’t produce any suds, but you’ll get just as deep of a clean, and it left the fabric of our clothes feeling fresh and soft.
6. Tru Earth Laundry Sheets
Amazon
There are plenty of reasons to love these eco-friendly laundry sheets from Tru Earth. The vegan formula is gentle enough for super sensitive skin, and didn’t irritate mine the way that big brands like Gain’s scented formula had in the past. Give them bonus points for that zero-waste packaging, too, which is even compostable. We also love these laundry sheets because they made measuring detergent so much easier than messily pouring liquid into a cap. One sheet can be used for large loads, but we found that small loads only really needed half a sheet. The sheets easily tear down the middle, and overall just make laundry day a little easier.
7. Biokleen Free and Clear Laundry Detergent
BEST eco-friendly packaging
Amazon
For those who don’t want to leave liquid detergent behind, Biokleen’s natural detergent is eco-friendly and its packaging cuts on waste, claiming to use 70 percent less plastic than traditional plastic laundry detergent bottles. The detergent uses plant-derived ingredients, and the bottle is made from recycled cardboard and newspaper, so we liked how easily it could be recycled or composted.
8. Dirty Labs Signature Laundry Detergent
Amazon
This detergent doesn’t just get earthy on the organic ingredient list, but scent-wise, too. Dirty Labs’ sustainable laundry liquid combines refreshing magnolia with bergamot, and cedar fragrances for a pure, forest-y vibe. Thanks to their advanced enzyme cleaning technology, you’ll also get targeted stain- and odor-fighting power for the fresh-looking and smelling clothes possible.
Buying Guide: How We Picked the Best Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent
Beyond personal testing, here’s what we considered when picking out the best eco-friendly laundry detergent.
Ecolabels: Ecolabels are put on product packaging to help you identify which products meet “specific environmental performance criteria and are therefore deemed ‘environmentally preferable,’” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We prioritized detergent with EPA’s Safer Choice Standard and Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Verified marks for this list.
Type: Eco-friendly laundry detergent can be available as a liquid, but we chose alternative types like powder, sheets, and pods for variety. There are pros and cons to each, for example — powder and sheets can be the least expensive, but tend to work best in warm to hot water. Pods can be a bit more expensive, but the convenience factor is high here. No matter which eco-friendly laundry detergent you start using, though, take note of eactly how many loads each method yields.
Scent: Eco-friendly doesn’t have to mean “scent-free”, so we picked laundry detergent with scented and unscented options so your clothing and linens can still have some fragrance once they’re clean. Note that there is a difference between fragrance-free and unscented, according to the EPA.
Packaging: The best eco-friendly laundry detergents rethink both the detergent itself and its packaging. While mainstream laundry detergents are often packaged in bulky plastic bottles, we focused on eco-friendly brands that have been able to skip the bottle by creating detergent sheets or pods that are packaged in slim, recyclable (or even compostable) packaging. For those who prefer using liquid detergent, we favored brands that offer recyclable, compostable bottles.
