My favorite zero waste laundry detergent options for any budget

Finding a good zero waste laundry detergent for your laundry routine doesn’t have to be hard. There are plenty of zero waste laundry detergent options for any budget, and I’m here to share the ones vetted by cool folks with sustainability cred.

Dec 2, 2024 - 15:54

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My favorite zero waste laundry detergent options for any budget

Finding a good product lineup for your laundry routine doesn’t have to be hard. There are plenty of zero waste laundry detergent options for any budget, and I’m here to share the ones vetted by cool folks with sustainability cred.

Because plastic bottles for detergent is an ecological mess! Many websites will cite around 1 billion plastic detergent bottles are discarded per year in the US, but I can’t find a good citation for that. There’s enough sustainability misinformation floating around so… suffice to say if most US households are using plastic detergent bottles (& few get recycled!), that’s a huge amount of forever plastics languishing in our landfills.

So switching to a similar but zero waste laundry detergent option just makes sense!

That said… finding the right zero waste laundry detergent depends on a lot: is your water hard? Do you have clothing that requires special care? Do you have a washer and dryer in your house, or do you wash things by hand or drag it to a laundromat?

Like anything zero waste, what works for me may not work for you depending on your access, needs, etc. So I've tried to give you a fairly comprehensive look at what the best sustainable laundry detergent options are!

My favorite zero waste laundry detergents

These are the zero waste laundry detergent brands I’ve personally used and supported! I try to give you a range of buying options since I know folks shop in different ways! Some of these links may be affiliate links — at no cost to you, you’ll help support this site.

DIY simple laundry powder. I used this for years and found it effective until I moved to a place with very hard water. It doesn’t work for me here, but when it did, I really liked it. I also added in a bit of white vinegar to soften the water.
Meliora. This is my go-to if I have the budget for it. I really love Meliora products. Want eco bonafides? It's a certified B corp, 1% for the Planet, Leaping Bunny, women-owned biz! Plus, as a Midwest girlie, I love that their factory is in Chicago! (meliora | earthhero | thrive market | grove co. | amazon)
Dropps. If you’ve done any digging into eco-friendly laundry detergent, you’ve probably heard of Dropps. I’ve tried their pods and liked them, but have switched over to mostly powder/sheets as they’re easier to ship. (dropps | thrive market | earthhero | amazon)
TruEarth laundry strips. I really, really like these! I think why they work in my hard water is that they’re formulated to work in hot or cold water, so they still end up dissolving and working really well. (Literally saw a post where someone in HazMat used them!!) Laundry strips really give you a bang for your buck and these have been my faves! (truearth | earthhero | amazon)
Seventh Generation. OK, this isn’t zero waste, but I wanted to highlight it here as a mid-journey option. When I lived in an apartment with terrible washing machines that I was afraid to put untested powders into, I used Seventh Generation as a stopgap. It's not idea, but they offer biodegradable, Leaping Bunny certied, EPA Safer Choice Certified detergents — plus, they’re cheaper than many of the other options. (walgreens | target | grove co. | amazon | it’s everywhere!)

Zero waste laundry detergent recommended by others

While I haven’t tried every one of these myself, these do come referred by people I trust! I want to be transparent — because I can guarantee all those other roundups don’t tell you the truth about what they’ve used or not ;)

Some of these links may be affiliate links — at no cost to you, you’ll help support this site.

Relatively eco-friendly commercial products

These include larger companies that are in the “better” category. It may be a more sustainable formula of a mainstream brand available everywhere, a plastic-free laundry detergent or even 100% recycled plastic bottles that folks swear is worth the small bit of plastic.

By the way: don’t sweat the plastic, please!

Rosey Laundry Detergent. I have a friend who swears by Thrive Market & was turned onto this from there. It’s a certified B corp brand that boasts ethical and cruelty-free supply chains and — despite coming plastic — is a nice alternative for folks who use communal washers or laundromats they can’t really experiment in.
Blueland. Again, another big name in eco-friendly laundry detergent. Their stuff is plastic-free and free from dyes, bleach, and harsh chemicals that make conventional detergents not great to toss in the landfill. (blueland | amazon)
Everspring. Did you know Target has its own brand of (relatively…) eco-friendly offerings? While this laundry detergent come in (50% post-consumer recycled) plastic, it's an affordable, accessible, 96% biobased product. Again... baby steps here.
Dirty Labs. Again, this comes highly recommended by a friend who’s used it since they launched in 2020! BPA, paraben, & phthalate free, this aluminum bottle conains hyper-concentrated liquid detergent made from a biobased formula. (dirty labs | earthhero | grove co. | amazon)

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Eco Clean Sheets. These are the #1 zero waste laundry detergent strips on Etsy for a reason! I've actually tried one before (somewhere with not-so-hard water) and really enjoyed them, though they didn’t work in my extremely hard water. That said, laundry strips are revelation. Give them a try!
ZWS Essentials laundry sheets. Vegan, cruelty-free, and 100% plant based, you don't have to worry about plastic or the carbon footprint of shipping heavy packages! These sheets come highly recommended from all over the web.
Waste Free Products Laundry Paste. This is a cool concept that has been recommended to me before! Each concentrated bar dilutes in water to make enough for 256 loads! All you do is chip of a piece of the block and dissolve in water before adding to your machine — how cool!

OK, so now you’ve got the right zero waste laundry detergent, it’s time to get smarter overall about your zero waste laundry routine!

How to have a lower-waste washing cycle

As usual, zero waste laundry reveals the truth about zero waste: it's so much more than the products we use. While we spend our mental energy worrying about a zero waste detergent swap, we fail to think about all the other resources going into cleaning our clothes.

According to the Alliance for Water Efficiency, we use a lot of water for laundry. Laundry accounts for "15% to 40% of the overall water consumption inside the typical household of four persons”. A family of four using a standard washer will wash around 300 loads per year, or around 12,000 gallons of water.

By comparison, someone who drinks the recommended 2 liters of water daily and lives until 80 will only drink 15,428 gallons of water in their lifetime!

Use cold instead of hot water. Not only is cold water less stressful on clothes - which helps them last longer - it cuts out almost all of the energy used by washing machines during their cycle! Studies estimate 70-90% of the energy used by washing machines during a cycle is for heating water - so it’ll save on your electric bill. If you want to dive more into the benefits of and science behind cold water, read this article.
Make sure you’re only doing full loads. Yes, this sounds basic, but I’m always surprised to see people doing very small, inefficient loads! Respect the resources by only doing laundry when you have a full load. Otherwise, bring a few items into the shower with you and give them a wash!

Air dry when possible. If you have outdoor space, a rotating rack is a great space saver. Otherwise an indoor bamboo drying rack - or whatever random free space you have in your home - works just as well. Plus, less agitation = less wear and tear on your clothes!
Dry your clothes on low-heat for a short time and hang them to finish drying. While the savings from not using a dryer aren’t huge, you can expect to save a couple bucks in electricity every month and reduce your yearly carbon footprint by a few thousand pounds!
Keep the lint trap clean. Seriously - having a full trap can reduce your dryer’s efficiency by as much as 30%, causing your clothes to need even more time in the dryer.