Non-Toxic Laundry Detergent: How To Buy

There’s lots to consider when searching for an eco-friendly and non-toxic laundry detergent. Are those strips and pods actually environmentally conscious if they’re wrapped in PVA? Why don’t detergents offer a full list of ingredients on their packaging?

As it turns out, detergents have lots of misleading claims (ahem … marketing gimmicks) designed to confuse consumers. On today’s episode we’re breaking down everything you need to know about non-toxic laundry detergent so you can make informed purchasing decisions moving forward.

Here’s a preview:

[2:00] Pricing discrepancies: Does an eco-friendly, non-toxic laundry detergent always cost more?

[6:15] Breaking down the 5 biggest environmental concerns associated with laundry detergent

[9:15] Everything you need to know about Polyvinyl Alcohol (I’m looking at you, pods and sheets)

[18:00] How to find a truly non-toxic laundry detergent

[22:00] Stephanie’s detergent-buying grading rubric for informed purchasing decisions

Resources mentioned:

• Episode #277: All-Things Eggs
• Episode #294: A Better Trash Bag
• Tandi’s Naturals
• Degradation of Polyvinyl Alcohol in US Wastewater Treatment Plants and Subsequent Nationwide Emission Estimate (via the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health)
• MamaSuds dryer ball
• Fit Organic stain remover
• Kind Laundry
• Episode #279: Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

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Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello there listeners. Welcome back, many Stephanie Seferian, and you’re listening to episode 318 of Sustainable Minimalists, a twice weekly show about intentional and eco minimalist living. 

On today’s show, we are discussing all things laundry detergent. You all write to me an awful lot about your laundry detergent, and so I thought to myself, let’s do it again.We’ve done this exact thing with eggs and then we did it with trash bags, and now we’re doing it with laundry detergent. 

When it comes to laundry detergent, we have to consider the eco-friendliness of the product as well as the potential harm to human health. If you are going to go through all the work – all the upfront work – of choosing an eco-friendly laundry detergent, why not at the same time that you’re doing all that work also find one that doesn’t contain [00:01:00] any potentially harmful chemicals? These laundry detergents are out there, I promise, and we are going to discuss them. 

Now if you love my A through F handy dandy grading rubric, I’ve done it before on the show. We’re doing it again today, so stay tuned for that towards the end of the episode.

The Price Factor

 Let’s talk first about the price factor on today’s show. I am discussing different product prices on a price per load basis. 

Now, let me say too here that I am mentioning brands today, and if I don’t mention your laundry detergent, the one you use, that doesn’t mean that yours is bad. I am giving you an awful lot of information today, and I trust and believe and hope that you’ll take the information you learn today and you’ll apply it to your preferred brand. If I were to outline every single product on [00:02:00] this show, we would be here all darn day at night, and a day again, so if I snub your product by not having an opinion, It’s not personal. 

Now back to price. It tends to be that the eco-friendly and non-toxic laundry detergent is more expensive than it’s conventional counterpart, right? That’s generally true across all product categories. That’s what we tend to find.

Think about a product: a trash bag, a mascara, a sock. It’s generally true that the eco-friendly brand is more expensive.

I wanted to test that theory and see if it held up when it comes to laundry detergents as you would expect the “eco-friendly” detergents on the market. The detergents that are pushing heavily – they are [00:03:00] marketing on the fact that they’re eco-friendl,  that’s their number one attribute that they’re pushing – As you’d expect, they do tend to come in at a higher price pointL 

• Tue Earth laundry strips come in at around 46 cents a load. 
• Kind laundry. I did have them on the show before. I have and do sometimes use them 33 cents a load. 
• Eco me 42 cents.
• Seventh generation 28 cents. 
• Earth breeze also comes in at 33 cents a load. 

So those numbers might not sound high to you. Less than 50 cents a load. Who cares? Well compare those numbers to the detergents on the market that aren’t saying anything about eco-friendliness, they’re not pushing eco-friendliness one darn bit:

• Kirkland signature Ultra clean liquid 11 cents a load. 
• The normal [00:04:00] Tide 18 cents load. 

Now let’s pause here and let me just say that there are a lot of Tide products on the market. They come in lots of different packaging. Prices fluctuate widely. The Tide Hygienic Clean Heavy Duty 10x is 44 cents a load, 44 cents. But in general, the tide that our grandparents and parents used 18 cents a load Tide Free and Clear. 

So let’s talk about Tide one more time. Their sort of eco-friendly and non-toxic product, and I say sort of because it’s not at all eco-friendly and it’s not at all non-toxic, but they’re really marketing it as such. It’s the one that comes in the white jug as opposed to the red one. It’s white and baby blue. It’s called Free and Gentle. Even the jug looks gentle somehow, but it’s not.

That Tide product comes in at 22 cents a load, so more expensive than the conventional tide.[00:05:00] . 

Now, all that said, there are notable outliers to this rule. There are brands on the market that are eco-friendly, that are non-toxic, and. Are also inexpensive. 

So the two I want to bring to your attention, we’re gonna talk about them later, is Molly’s Suds. It’s a powder, 17 cents a load. 

Another one is Tandi’s Naturals. It’s a very nice little company, selling all sorts of non-toxic soaps.19 cents a load. The packaging isn’t all that eco-friendly, but I will say that because you’re buying it in bulk, you can only buy Tandy Naturals. Laundry detergent in bulk, so you have to pay $104 up front, but that is for a heck of a lot of loads, 19 cents a load. And because you’re part buying in bulk, there’s less packaging. So I’m including it here.

So the takeaway when it comes to price is that [00:06:00] yes. Products that are banking – literally banking! – on their eco-friendliness due to cost more. They do charge more. However, not all, there are exceptions to the eco-friendliness is expensive rule, at least when it comes to laundry detergent. 

Eco-Friendly Detergents

Now? What on earth is an eco-friendly laundry detergent anyway? What would make a product eco-friendly?

1. An eco-friendly laundry detergent would not come in a plastic jug. 700 million plastic jugs of laundry detergent are thrown away each year in the United States alone.

These jugs are made from high density polyethylene, that’s H D P E. It is a #2 plastic. #2 plastics can be recycled and are commonly recycled. However, now here’s a little reminder to some of you who have been listening for a while. [00:07:00] It has been known since 2018 when China stopped accepting our recycling that recycling rates plummeted here in the US. 

The percentage of plastic recycling. Traditionally hovered around eight-ish percent, but I did just see an update and I’m not sure if it’s completely accurate. I did not independently research this, but I wouldn’t be surprised by any means if it is accurate and the number is that that percentage, which has traditionally been held at 8% has been reduced to just 5%.

So what does that mean? That means that for every 100 laundry detergent jugs you put in your recycling bin, only five of them actually get recycled. The other 95 laundry detergent jugs go straight to the landfill. That is a hard pill to swallow, isn’t it? Well, let’s make it even harder to swallow by remembering [00:08:00] that they’re likely made with virgin plastic, which means that fossil fuels a non-renewable resource, by the way, was pulled from the earth to create this high density polyethylene #2 plastic jug, and now it’s going to sit in the landfill for 800-ish years.

Double ouch. 

An eco-friendly laundry detergent does not come in a plastic jug. Nope. It does not. 

2. The formula does not contain phosphates. Phosphates build up in waterways, they lead to eutrification, which is a fancy way of saying, Phosphates create algae blooms that depletes water of oxygen that fish need. Nothing good about phosphates. 

3. Eco-friendly laundry detergents don’t have dichlorobenzene, either. It’s xtremely toxic to [00:09:00] aquatic life. It can poison water for years and years down the line.

4. And finally too, I am of the belief that at this moment in time, an eco-friendly laundry detergent does not contain polyvinyl alcohol. What is polyvinyl alcohol? We talked about this briefly on a recent episode, but polyvinyl alcohol is labeled PVA or P V O H. It is in laundry detergent, pods and strips or sheets.It’s what keeps the detergent together in a handy dandy pod or in a handy dandy sheet. 

The brands who are pushing the sheets and pods often market themselves as plastic free, as eco-friendly, however, that is simply false. PVA is a plastic, It is what makes the strip the [00:10:00] pod so darn convenient.You just pull it out, you throw it in the machine. Convenient, but is it problematic? 

The answer to this is it depends on who you ask. Studies have been commissioned to determine exactly this is PVA problematic to the environment. Some studies have found that in general, PVA has the potential to enter our groundwater resources and enter our water systems. PVA does maintain a presence in the environment. That’s according to the studies. 

But then on the other side of the coin, companies that sell PVA products, retort that these studies are biased because they were commissioned by retailers not selling PVA products, and they just want these studies as a means to discredit the PVA selling competitors.

PVA [00:11:00] retailers argue that PVA dissolves quickly even in cold water, and whatever’s left, whatever doesn’t get dissolved in your machine, the microorganisms that are present at wastewater treatment systems will break down or can break down what’s left of the film.

So what’s true? What side is true? Well, as with most things in life, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. 

What is my take on the PVA problem? Well, As of this moment in time when the research is so ambiguous, I am wary of relying on a synthetic polymer when the synthetic polymer’s only purpose is convenience to make my life slightly easier. PVA is not making my clothes any cleaner. It’s only making the chore of laundry very [00:12:00] slightly easier, and I wanna talk about that in a minute, but let’s talk about convenience first. Laundry pods and laundry sheets are popular because they are so darn convenient.

There’s no measuring. The amount of detergent you’re using is preset. I have to ask though, like, let’s be real for a moment. Are we that time crunched? Are we that overwhelmed and stressed out that we cannot take the 10 or 15 seconds to measure out our own detergent anymore? ? That is absolutely bonkers to me.That is ridiculous. 

And when it comes to pre-measure, you can’t have like H A L V E, you half a pod. So if you’re doing a small load and it would make sense to use less detergent, you can’t, with a pod, you can, however, I should say, rip up a strip in half. You can rip a strip in half and use half the detergent. 

But back to the convenience factor [00:13:00] when you think about laundry as an entire chore. So the whole chore from wash to dry to put away. The stress and overwhelm does not come from measuring out the detergent, does it? Measuring the detergent is just one teeny, tiny, minuscule aspect of the entire laundry process. 

I would argue personally as somebody who does laundry for a family of four every single day, that the stress and overwhelm as it relates to laundry. It doesn’t come from putting your laundry in the machine and measuring up the detergent. The overwhelm comes from the hanging, from the folding, from the putting away of the laundry.

So a pod or a strip that’s wrapped in PVA it may save me 10 or 15 seconds, but is it really solving any of my legitimate [00:14:00] laundry woes? No, it’s not. So if you agree with me, if you are on board and you’re saying, yeah, measuring of the detergent isn’t the hard part, then why would we accept these new products of convenience with ambiguous PVA findings?

Until there’s more research on the safety of PVA as it relates to our environment. I do believe, personally, and again, my opinion may change as more research comes out, but I do believe that it’s prudent to be better safe than sorry. 

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Non-Toxic Laundry Detergents

What on earth makes a [00:15:00] laundry detergent safe for you and your family? Well, before we get into this, I must say right off the bat that here in the United States, it is not required by law for laundry detergent companies to list every ingredient on their label. So I’m going to give you some ingredients, some chemicals, but just know that if they’re not listed on your detergent packaging, that doesn’t mean your detergent doesn’t have them. You can very quickly visit the manufacturer’s website to view the list of complete ingredients and I highly suggest you do that. 

All right, so a non-toxic laundry detergent is of course free from parabens, phthalates, and sulfates. So let’s talk about these one by one really quick. We’ve talked about them on many shows before, but if you are just starting your non-toxic journey, step [00:16:00] one is to get rid of anything with parabens and phthalates. Step two is to then get rid of the sulfates. 

Parabens are hormone disruptors. They increase the risk of cancer; they may harm fertility; they may affect birth outcomes. That’s parabens. 

Then you’ve got the phthalates. Phthalates are often present in laundry detergent but you won’t find them listed on labels.They’re often associated also with fragrance, and we’re going to talk about fragrance again in a minute, but phthalates are also hormone disruptors. 

Next up is the sodium laurel sulfate. I have done an entire episode. I dedicated an entire 25 minutes to sodium laurel sulfate so we’re not going to talk about it too much, but I’m going to say that that would be an intermediate ingredient to begin avoiding, not just in your detergent, but in all your products. 

Make sure [00:17:00] your detergent is free of formaldehyde. It’s a carcinogen, meaning it causes cancer. 

Optical brighteners are eye and skin and lung irritants. They are toxic to aquatic life. They make your clothes look cleaner and whiter, but they are doing nothing to actually clean your clothes. Nothing. They’re not making your clothes any cleaner. They’re not making them smell better. They’re just making them appear cleaner. So stay away from the optical brighteners, the UV brighteners. 

Stay clear of the fragrance. There’s a difference between natural fragrance and synthetic fragrance. Synthetic fragrances are made in a lab. Lots of chemicals can hide under the fragrance label. Natural fragrances are generally made from plants, not petrochemicals. [00:18:00] Usually a natural fragrance is derived of an essential oil or a floral extract, but the term natural, the term natural fragrance not regulated. So if I see that on a product, I’m going to be doing some more research before I just assume it’s safe for me and my family.

Steer clear also of 1,4 dioxane. It’s a potential carcinogen.

I could go on for days and days about the potentially harmful chemicals in laundry detergent, but a solid rule of thumb here is that the more ingredients and the more hard to pronounce ingredients, the more wary you should be.

How To Find An Eco-Friendly, Non-Toxic Laundry Detergent

In a perfect world, we are going to find a laundry detergent that is eco-friendly, that is non-toxic, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Oh my goodness, does this golden unicorn exist? The answer is yes. And so we’re moving on [00:19:00] to my handy dandy grading rubric. 

If you’re a new listener and you’re thinking to yourself, “What on earth? Did I just attend a class? What is she talking about?” I used to be a teacher so yes, you kind of did join my class , and yes, you are going to get a grade. I like to use the A through F conventional grading scale on these episodes.

And so let’s talk about the A. If you are the teachers pet overachiever and you want an A grade, you are going to purchase a non-toxic powder detergent from a bulk bin at your local zero waste store. I know it’s hard to get an a I am a tough teacher. I don’t give out a’s like candy. You have to work for it.

So you’re going to buy a non-toxic powder detergent from a bulk bin. Okay? If you are lucky enough to have a zero waste store near you, I hope you’re using it for all [00:20:00] your needs. However, if you don’t, an A may likely. Inaccessible to you. If the A is inaccessible to you, it’s inaccessible to me, let’s be honest, you’re gonna strive for that B. 

And in order to get a B, you are going to buy a non-toxic laundry detergent with mindful packaging.

What does mindful packaging mean? Number one, mindful packaging means that their website has something to say about their packaging. So if you go to the retailer’s website and you click around, you’re not going to have to click around for that long to find something being said about their packaging.That’s number one. [00:21:00] 

Number two, mindful packaging means they have plans to phase out plastic. They have an actual plan. It’s not just a pie in the sky dream, it’s a plan. 

Mindful packaging means that Number three that they use 100% recycled plastic, and they’re proud of it. So they’re proudly boasting that they’re not pulling fossil fuels from the earth to create more plastic. They used recycled plastic. They’re using plastic that’s already in the world and they’re recycling it into a new product, and they’re proud of that. If they’re not using 100% recycled plastic, they’re using a very high percentage, so 85% and above.

Mindful packaging also means that when all else fails, you can buy in bulk to reduce packaging waste. So the overall surface area is reduced when you buy in bulk. I mentioned Tandy’s Naturals. At the outset, [00:22:00] you have to pay $104 up front for a lot of loads, but it comes to 19 cents a load, so you’re reducing packaging waste.

By the way Molly’s Suds comes in 100% recycled plastic. That’s mindful packaging to me. Molly’s Suds takes it a step further and they’re used non-toxic ink on their packaging.

Grove Collaborative. I know that a lot of my listeners use Grove Collaborative. And by the way, why does Grove Collaborative not sponsor this podcast? They need to get on that. This podcast is like perfect for them to advertise on, but Growth Collaborative does sell a lot of products in plastic.

They also sell a lot of products with PVA, but the company has pledged to be 100% plastic free by 2025. That is appealing to me. That’s something I wanna support. So something to keep in mind.

Those would be mindful [00:23:00] packaging options that would get you a B. Make sure the product you’re buying is non-toxic. It has to be nontoxic and it has to have mindful packaging if you want the B. 

Onto the C. If you’re okay with being average, you are going to buy one of those non-toxic strips or pods on the market that are heavily targeting you on social media. You will choose to ignore the fact that that strip or pod is held together by PVA which is, again, a plastic with ambiguous, if any environmental consequences.

So the non-toxic strips or pods on the market, you know them. I’m not even going to mention them, but you are getting targeted hard by them on social media justlike I am. It’s always like some beautiful, well-dressed, makeup, coiffed mom who just looks so effortlessly put together in these ads. She’s doing laundry with a smile on [00:25:00] her face.Who does laundry with a smile on, by the way, I don’t, and I’m not doing it in my fanciest clothes either, but that’s neither here nor there. 

Let’s move on to the D. The D action to get a D in this seminar. You’re going to do one of two actions. Okay? So to get a D, you are no longer caring about non-toxic living and eco friendliness.You’re only caring about one of these two values. 

If you’re not concerned with the non-toxic aspect and you only care about eco friendliness, you’re gonna buy powder in a box, powder in a box like so 1960s, it is still around. Look for it. Powder in a box, you don’t care what the ingredients are. Powder in a box, the box is going to be obviously recyclable or compostable. It’s not lined with plastic. 

I’m gonna pause here and I’m going to go on a tangent. As I was researching all things Tide, I did find that Tide sells a [00:26:00] liquid that is sold in a box. And the box is labeled Eco Box. So darn creative, right? No, I’m being sarcastic. Eco Box. It also is labeled as being a “Smarter Package”, whatever that means. This is blatant greenwashing. You know that that box is lined with plastic if it’s holding a liquid, right? That box then is not recyclable. It is not compostable. It is going straight to the landfill. Do not pass go. Do not even try to get recycled. Do not collect $200. That is trash. It has to be powder in a box. That’s gonna get you a D. 

You will [00:27:00] also get a D by purchasing a product without mindful packaging. So you’re buying a non-toxic product. It has, I don’t know, five ingredients or less It’s looking pretty healthy for humans, but the packaging is not mindful. It’s not coming in a box. It’s not coming in 100% recycled plastic packaging. 

Remember that what’s good for human health also tends to be good for the planet. so even if you don’t consider yourself eco-friendly, which you likely do, cuz let’s be real, you’re listening to this show. But even if you don’t, even if you’re choosing a formula with fewer ingredients, with fewer potentially harmful ingredients, you’re still doing something good for the planet because you’re not flushing these chemicals down your drain into waterways. So something to keep in mind because [00:28:00] taking the time to find a product that’s free from the potentially harmful stuff is still gonna get you a passing grade. 

And then finally, if you want to retake this course – if you are going to flunk , you are going to do one of three things.

The first is you’re going to buy the detergent your parents and grandparents bought. You’re going to buy it without intention because why the heck not? If that detergent worked for them, it’s good enough for you too. That’s gonna get you an F. 

Another action that will get you an F is to buy the name brand detergent simply because of its immense brand name recognition. So you know the big names, the big name brand detergents, They are continuing to sell because they have the name. Think about Tide for a minute. They have so many different products on the market. Some of them aren’t even [00:29:00] cheap. Some of them aren’t even inexpensive. Some of them are really darn expensive. Let’s go back to my price breakdown earlier. One of the Tide products is 44 cents. A load that’s almost as much as the eco-friendly detergents. So that’s gonna get you an F. Buying the name brand detergent simply because it has a brand name. 

And then finally, I had to put this in here: Buying the pods, which are held together by PVA that come in the plastic will definitely get you an F. You know you’ve seen them, So they’re the pods: they’re wrapped in PVA, they are not mindful about their ingredients, and they are not mindful of their packaging because again, we have that high density polyethylene plastic jug.

So it’s double plastic, right? It’s the PVA for the pod, [00:30:00] and then it’s the plastic jug. Double plastic, By the way, let’s talk about Tide one more time. When I was breaking down the prices, I did notice that Tide again sells the same detergent in a jug that’s loose. So think about, you know, you have to open the jug.

You have to measure the detergent into the cap, and then you have to pour the liquid into the machine. There’s that, and then there’s the Tide pod. The Tide pods, so same exact formula, same exact product. The Tide Pod is approximately 5 cents per load more expensive, so you are paying five extra cents every time you throw a pod in your machine.

Another way to say that is you are paying five extra cents per load every time you do laundry for that PVA to make your [00:31:00] life very slightly easier. Is it worth it? That’s a question for you. 

Non-Toxic Laundry Detergent: The Final Word

Use the same logic that we’ve outlined on this show to your entire laundry routine. There is no point in going through the work of listening to this 30-ish minute podcast and switching up your detergent to then undo your efforts by continuing to use potentially harmful dryer sheets and potentially harmful stain removers. 

I’ve linked to my recommendations in this week’s show notes for detergent, but I’ve also linked to dryer ball suggestions to get rid of dryer sheets and stain remover that’s non-toxic.

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