Sustainable Swap: Laundry Edit

Reduce plastic, goodbye bulky bottles, see ya gooey mess …

… hello detergent sheets!

Allow me to introduce my new favorite laundry sustainable swap- laundry detergent sheets. Y’all, this is a win win win win win all around, and, if you are like me, that makes mama happy.

Have you heard of or tried laundry detergent sheets?! Yes, this is a thing. And, it makes so much sense!

Bulky, unruly, messy, ugh

Consider our current paradigm of laundry detergent- big bulky bottles that are heavy to tote around and unruly when they are full (and let’s be honest, when they are empty, too). If you are like me, you probably have multiple in your laundry area because you have one on hand for when you run out. And, then you constantly have these big plastic detergent bottles taking up a lot of space in your recycle bin.

They drip, they don’t look pretty, they are a pain to buy at the store and lug home. And why? Because they partially full (about 50%) of…. water! So what if we took that ingredient out since we have that available to add at home?

What about pods?

Ah! Then there are pods! Yes, better. Only 10% water saving space and mess. But the outer packaging in some name-brand pods is made from a water soluble polymer which is technically safe but it can break down into a toxic monomer (vinyl acetate) which is known to harm aquatic lifeforms and cause tumors in rats.

All to say, not the best for our environment and some pretty dubious chemicals to make that plastic outer casing. You can read more here.

Enter the detergent sheet!

Voila! The answer to all! The detergent SHEET! It is similar in size to a dryer sheet but different in texture.

It is easy to use in a top loading machine, just drop it in! Check out my quick tutorial here. And, it is almost equally as easy in a front loader washing machine. You can see my quick demo here.

I have been using these from Grove, these from TruEarth, and these from EcoBreeze. All of these brands have been working for me!

I would love my laundry room to look like this one day. I have a ways to go, but I have mastered the – no big, ugly, wasteful plastic bottle part! Loving me some laundry detergent sheets!

Check out this super easy sustainable swap for your laundry room. You will not be disappointed.

Cheers, Lisa