Below, we give you the best eco-friendly laundry detergent for the “greenest” laundry day you’ll ever have!
We talk a lot here about sustainable fashion. It can be quite a bit of reading, but finding the right ethos for your closet is key to cleaning up one of the dirtiest industries around.
Going for natural fabrics, non-toxic dyes, and fair manufacturing is a huge step, and monitoring the impact of your clothing long after it gets to you is an even bigger one.
We’ve already talked about how polyester can pollute in the wash, but what you’re washing your clothes with can be just as important as the clothes themselves.
A lot of laundry detergents today are not only made with harsh chemicals but packaged in plastic that can wreak havoc on ecosystems long after laundry day. If that’s at odds with what you want your clothing to be and represent, don’t worry!
We want to help you maintain a sustainable lifestyle through the entire lifetime of your clothing, and today we’re going to help you cut down on the impact of every wash with 8 eco-friendly laundry detergent options.
How Is Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent Different?
When looking for eco-friendly home products, it’s important to understand what is style and what is substance. A number of chemicals are necessary for your detergent to get the job done, but this can’t be said for 100% of that ingredient list.
On this list, we’re going to focus on brands that cut out the bad stuff on the inside and the outside, including parabens, sulfates, sudsing agents, unnecessary fragrances, water, and plastic packaging.
Every option we show you are going to have as close to plastic-free packaging as we can find, but it can be difficult to find a laundry detergent that cuts out everything on the list. Because of that, we’re also going to show you a few options that might not be perfect but do cut down their ingredient list where possible.
Best Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent Brands
The Simply Co. Laundry Detergent
Out of everything on this list, The Simply Co. is probably the one to go with if you’re looking for something close to traditional laundry detergent.
This detergent has many of the same ingredients as a traditional laundry detergent but doesn’t make you pay for water and is free of phthalates, parabens, sulfates, and synthetic dyes.
It comes to you in a glass jar with a metal lid that’s easily recyclable and there’s nothing nasty in there.
Basically, it’s the perfect start to a plastic-free laundry routine if you want a more conventional option.
Dropps
Dropps offers quite a bit of eco-friendly products, but we especially love their laundry detergent.
Not only is it plastic-free, compostable, dye-free, phthalate-free, and cruelty-free, but it also WORKS.
Tru Earth Fragrance-Free Eco Strips
Ever get tired of those huge laundry jobs that you have to lug around every time you get home from the store? The owners of Tru Earth did too, and that’s why they created laundry strips that could fit in packaging the size of your phone.
This small package contains a big cleaning punch but does it with no phthalates, phosphates, or chlorine bleach.
The package is also compostable, so it’s not going to stick around for long.
Blueland Laundry Tablets
Blueland is a sustainable laundry company that wants to keep you from paying extra for ingredients you don’t need.
Their laundry tablets are free of phthalates, ammonia, artificial fragrances, dyes, and plastic. Your first order will come in a steel canister and every refill you get after that comes in a compostable paper bag.
Grove Collaborative
This eco-friendly company offers several laundry detergent options, including ultra-concentrated liquid detergent and laundry powder packs.
Grove claims that their eco-friendly laundry detergent removes stains just as well as the leading national brands.
This company is a Certified B Corporation, plastic-neutral, and carbon offsets for every shipment they make.
Meliora Laundry Powder
Meliora offers one of the shortest and most transparent ingredient lists we’ve seen. No added phthalates, sulfates, or preservatives and they even disclose the ingredients in their fragrance options.
Your first order will be in a steel or cardboard canister and you can get your refills in a compostable paper bag. That’s really all there is to it, it’s that simple.
Butter Me Up Organic Soap Nuts
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but soap kind of does! These little soap nuts aren’t actually nuts, but dried berries from Sapindus Mukorossi trees.
Full disclosure, Butter Me Up soap nuts are not officially certified as organic. We included them over other brands because they seemed the most transparent and the most dedicated to sustainable packaging.
All of their shipping material is post-consumer recycled, and your soap nuts come to you in a 4oz bag that will last you for about 77 loads.
Simply pop about four berries into the provided cloth bag with your load and you’re done. You can reuse the berries, but when it’s time to get rid of them you can add them to compost.
It’s not only sustainable but bypasses the need for laundry detergent entirely.
Shecology Dissolvable Laundry Pills
If you like the idea of soap nuts but want it in a more convenient form, try a pill (for the wash, not you).
Shecology laundry pills are essentially soapberry powder and baking soda held with a plant-based film. Your pills come to you in a glass jar, so no plastic.
We chose the pills for convenience, but you can also get this detergent in a powder or just buy the soap nuts themselves!
Bottom Line
A clean closet is a great thing and truly clean laundry is even better. Far from being stuck with the plastic laundry jugs of the past, we now have zero waste and non-toxic options to keep our clothes clean.
With this list, we really wanted to show you the best options out there with the most transparent ingredients.
If you’ve used some of this info to build a more ethical closet, that’s great and we hope that you’ll continue that on your laundry day!
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