Tip of the Day - Switch to Powder
Greener Vegas gives out gold stars to readers who make green changes. I love reading about the changes other people are making. This week’s gold star reminded me of a change I’ve made but haven’t mentioned.
Started using soap nuts awhile ago, and I love using them for delicates. They work great on removing odors and keeping clothes soft, but I haven’t had good luck using soap nuts for clothes that are really dirty. And between biking (I have an uncanny ability to get covered in bike grease no matter what I’m wearing or what bike I’m riding), the dog, hiking, the dog, being messy eaters, and the dog, some of our clothes get really dirty.
Since liquid laundry detergents come in plastic, and powdered detergents come in cardboard, I’ve made the switch to powder. There are some things I buy even though they are packaged in plastic - personal care products, dish soap, etc. - but I can’t say I care enough about using liquid laundry detergent to continue to buy it in plastic bottles.
My first powder purchase was a box of Biokleen Premium Plus Laundry Powder. I love the way it cleans, and the light citrus scent reminds me of the Flintstones vitamins I took as a kid. It’s concentrated, so one box lasts a long time, and it does a great job with stains. The downside? It’s packaged in a plastic bag inside the box, and comes with a plastic scoop.
I’ll reuse the bag to pack up a wet bathing suit or shoes the next time I travel, but I know plenty of powdered detergents don’t come packed in plastic bags. And I wish detergent would stop coming packaged with a scoop all together. I’d be happy to keep my own and reuse it.
Fake Plastic Fish recently wrote a letter to CitraSolv about their plastic scoop, and mentions that Ecover powdered detergent comes with a paper scoop. I love Ecover’s liquid detergent, but hadn’t noticed their powdered detergent at the store. I’ll be looking for it next time. And will probably follow FPF’s lead and write to Biokleen as well.
What detergent do you use? What kind of scoop/bag, etc. does it come with?
July 24th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Good idea to spread around! Some companies like 7th Gen use recycled paper for their box and recycled plastic for their scoop, which is the one we just started using. Enough with the big plastic bottles already!
July 24th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Ugh. Detergent. A long standing personal struggle for me.
My favorite - and in my opinion - the best detergent ever: Tide with Bleach Powder. I have two sons and a husband who like to present me with dirty, smelly, stained clothing every day and it’s the only detergent I can truly count on to remove all of the above in one wash cycle. It comes with no liner, a scoop, which I reuse for other things, or recycle, because it’s a #1. But, yeah, I certainly don’t need a new scoop with every box.
In the past few years, the availability of powder detergents has greatly declined. The shelves are filled with bottles of liquid detergent with only a very small space dedicated to powders. On top of that, the powders are never, ever on sale. My grocery/household bill is high enough where I don’t feel I can pass up a sale on liquid detergents.
One positive is that the liquids are now almost all in *concentrated* form, so the jugs are smaller. I buy the liquid if it’s on sale and use it in my cold water loads - but much, much prefer the powders.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
We are guilty of using the liquid detergent. It’s 7th Generation, but you are right, it’s still plastic. The boy has a thing about liquid detergent, thinking it’s better. But you know, seeing as how I do most of the laundry, I bet he won’t even notice if I change types
July 24th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I never really even thought about the packaging for my detergent, which shows how far I have to go. I did decide a couple of weeks ago that I’d be switching to greener detergents, but I’ve still got a little bit of standard All left to use up. I had been planning on trying Mrs. Meyers — which I don’t think has powder — or Seventh Generation — which does — because it’s available at the grocery store I shop at. Unfortunately, I’ve never found Biokleen or Ecover in my shopping and I’m not a fan of having stuff shipped to me when I can buy it at the store.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I would really love to see liquid laundry detergent available in “bulk” like the grains and nuts at whole foods. Bring your own bottle, and fill up at the store. Less plastic and probably cheaper to boot!
July 24th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I’ve been making my own powder detergent from a recipe I saw on the web. Honestly it is well worth it. My husband works in the garden a lot and after so called washing his hands, he wipes on a white towel. Well my powder got that dreadful brown stain out no problem. Normally after a liquid detergent there would still be a stain but not this time! Definitely reduced my laundry costs and got rid of the bleach which I can splash on me very easily!!
July 25th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Audrey, please share your recipe for detergent or tell us where you found it!
July 25th, 2008 at 3:29 am
we use ecover with the paper scoop! the lack of plastic is great, but we’ve noticed that our clothes are not smelling as fresh as usual (although maybe it’s the heat). anyway, a half cup of baking soda solved that problem. baking soda = miracle powder.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
[…] Yesterday, when we talked about switching to powdered laundry detergent, Audrey mentioned that she makes her own. […]
July 27th, 2008 at 5:12 am
Hey Allie! I’m wondering if the powdered detergent works well in cold-water washes? I’d tried it years ago but think it didn’t really dissolve… perhaps if one lets it swish around for a bit before adding the clothing to the washer?
July 27th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Hi Jenn! I haven’t had a problem with the detergent dissolving, and I was everything except for towels in cold water. I remember that issue with powdered detergent years ago, but I think in general most of them have improved greatly. I do add the detergent first, then a little water, then the clothes. But I haven’t had to wait for it to swish around. As soon as the powder is under water, I add the clothes.