The Big Zero Waste Dishwasher Review 2023 | Dishwasher Pods, Tablets, and Powder
Zero-waste dishwasher pods, tablets, and powders: we reviewed over a dozen so you don't have to.
The Top Line
This was tough because there are so many good brands minimizing harmful ingredients, emissions, and plastic: Ecover, Dropps, and Thrive Market dishwasher powder were some of our best picks. Based on ingredients that were phosphate free, fragrance-free (optional), hypoallergenic, and chlorine-free. Dirty Labs is great runners up given their limited ingredients and super concentrated powder but it is on the pricy side.
Note: We did not include Seventh Generation Dishwashing Powder here because we did not formally review it, but it is, in fact, one of the OGs when it comes to cleaner ingredients and zero plastic. When Thrive is not on sale, though competitive, SG is the price winner.
The Setup
What are the Brands? We reviewed: Dirty Labs [powder], Seventh Generation [tablets], Grab Green [pods], Ecover [tablets], Blueland [tablets], Thrive Market [powder], Grove Collaborative [pods], Cleancult [pods], Dropps [pods], Nellie’s [powder], Beyond [tablets], and Public Goods [pods].
What’s Your Impact? Traditional liquid dishwasher detergents are usually packaged in high density polyethylene and 68% of these bottles are not recycled, contributing approximately 275 metric tons of plastic waste that goes into our oceans and waterways annually.
A family of 4 would typically go through 6-12 plastic jugs of dishwasher detergent over the course of a year.
Why switch? (1) Most of the detergents we reviewed are limited in ingredients and tend to be a bit more earth-friendly. (2) Mainly, the great reduction is in plastic waste, given packaging of the brands we have reviewed leans toward paper and metal. (3) Plus powders are on average lighter to transport, so a win on the carbon footprint front as well!
Update: As of September 2023, we updated the review to include FIVE additional brands that we have tried and reviewed since our last roundup. Note that Truman’s [dishwasher pods] no longer exists but our review will live forever.
The Money: Thrive Market Dishwasher Powder - even when not on sale (it is currently discounted - is hard to beat when it comes to price. For more convenience (if you have the shelf space) is a bulk subscription of Dropps pods is the cheapest. Otherwise, Ecover is the next runner up.
The Ingredients: Nellie’s dishwasher powder and is the best when it comes to bottom’s up ingredients. There are very few.
The Scent: Depending on your preference, the fully non-scented options are Nellie’s, Blueland, Seventh Generation. Dropps offers both unscented and lemon.
The Residue: Given that most dishwasher detergents are now phosphate-free, some can leave a white film on your dishes. Blueland, Seventh Generation, Dropps, Grove, and Dirty Labs did not really produce a film on our dishes.
The Packaging: Blueland, Dropps, Seventh Generation, Dirty Labs, Ecover, and Cleancult win here, as the dishwasher detergents with zero plastic.
The Dissolving: Truman’s always had a tough time dissolving in our dishwashers and Blueland only on light loads.
The PVOH: Or PVA, Polyvinyl Alcohol. This is the water-soluble plastic binding around pods. While most brands claim they are biodegradable, there is some debate on whether it is fully soluble and therefore has limited impact on the environment. There are studies that argue both sides, but we did not find solid independent sources. All pods will have some type of PVA while all powders and most tablets do not.
Blueland, Nellie’s, Thrive Market, Dirty Labs, Ecover, and Seventh Generation avoid the issue by making tablets and a powders.
The Commitment: Dropps is the most taxing when it comes to size of subscription in order to get its savings (but you don’t have to!). Blueland offers a nice discount with its subscription model, while the others provide only modest savings in bulk/subscriptions. Ecover, Beyond, SG, and Nellie’s are all available on Amazon.
Note: Truman’s as a standalone company no longer exists; per their website, they have been acquired.
More Notes: SOME products contain polymer called Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) — which, while it can biodegradable, it requires very specific conditions in order to do so that most US wastewater treatment facilities in the US are not set up for (study on degradation of PVA in US Wastewater Treatment Plants), which can lead to partially degraded plastic in the environment. TLDR: Biodegradable products that include PVA (which is found in many dishwasher and detergent pods) isn’t quite as clean as it is advertised to be, but still a step up from traditional bottled cleaners.
In Pictures
Cost Breakdown
The Money Report:
Thrive Market Dishwasher Powder - even when not on sale (it is currently discounted - is hard to beat when it comes to price. For more convenience (if you have the shelf space) is a bulk subscription of Dropps pods is the cheapest. Otherwise, Ecover is the next runner up.
Our Picks:
This was tough because there are so many good brands minimizing harmful ingredients, emissions, and plastic: Ecover, Dropps, and Thrive Market dishwasher powder were some of our best picks. Based on ingredients that were phosphate free, fragrance-free (optional), hypoallergenic, and chlorine-free. Dirty Labs is great runners up given their limited ingredients and super concentrated powder but it is on the pricy side.
We're on a mission to reduce our personal carbon footprint with small, hopefully easy, changes in our home to fight against climate change. This means we're looking for products that may be all natural, ideally zero waste, reusable or compostable -- while still being affordable!
