Whether itchy skin is getting you down or you’re trying to live a more ethical lifestyle, swapping your regular laundry detergent for a more eco-friendly alternative could be a household move worth making.
Though cheap and convenient, many mainstream detergents are brimming with synthetic chemicals like phosphates, chlorine and bleach that pollute our waterways, damaging delicate ecosystems, and may irritate sensitive skin.
Happily, there’s no need to sacrifice washing performance for green credentials, as non-toxic detergents from brands such as Ecover and Method can be just as effective at freshening up your clothes. These eco formulas have improved considerably since the Good Housekeeping Institute first started tested them back in the 1980s and 1990s, so if past experience has put you off, it’s time to try again!
What’s the best eco-friendly laundry detergent?
The Good Housekeeping Institute tried and tested 10 products to find the best that balance cleaning power with ethics. Read on for our buyer’s guide and full verdicts, or snap up one of our eight top picks right now:
Best eco bio laundry detergent: Ecover Concentrated Laundry Detergent
Best eco non-bio laundry capsules: Smol Non-Bio Capsules
Runner-up eco bio laundry detergent: Method Concentrated Laundry Detergent
Best eco non-bio liquid detergent: Splosh Non-Bio Laundry Detergent
Best eco non-bio detergent for sensitive skin: M&S Gently Does It Sensitive Non-Bio Laundry Liquid
Best value eco bio laundry detergent: Persil Bio Biological Liquid Detergent
Best for eco packaging: Seventh Generation Ultra Concentrated Bio Laundry Detergent
Best eco non-bio packaging: BioD Concentrated Non-Bio Laundry Detergent
What makes laundry detergent eco-friendly?
‘Eco-friendly’ can mean many things, but these detergents are free from harsh and potentially harmful ingredients. They usually feature only natural colouring and fragrance, if any.
Look for products that are phosphate-free, cruelty-free, biodegradable and packaged in recyclable bottles made from recycled plastic. Some will have been certified by trusted environmental bodies like the Soil Association or The Vegan Society.
Consider buying a concentrated detergent to save water and the energy involved in shipping heavy volumes. If it’s proven to be effective at lower temperatures, then even better, as you’ll also be using less energy to wash your clothes. In fact, according to Cold Water Saves, if your household switched to cold water washing for a year, you’d save enough energy to charge your iPhone over 30,000 times.
Which is better: washing liquid or powder?
The more choice, the harder it is to decide which product to buy. When it comes to laundry detergents, there are many choices, so let’s quickly run through your options…
The GHI has found that powdered laundry detergent is almost always the best at removing stains. That said, budget and personal preference should also play a role in your decision-making process.
Powder, though cheap, is messy to use and it can be tricky to know how much to measure out per wash. Liquids and gels dissolve more quickly and are bleach-free, meaning they are gentler on coloured clothes. On the flipside, this lack of a bleaching agent allows smells to build up in your washing machine, so you’ll probably need to clean it more frequently.
Keen to be as green as possible? You might wish to consider tablets and capsules, which minimise waste by providing you with the correct dose and dissolving more slowly, meaning less is lost down the drain.
Bio or non bio?
The difference between biological and non-biological detergent is that the latter doesn’t contain enzymes and is usually free from dyes and fragrances, too. The enzymes in bio detergents break down amino acids in protein-based stains like blood and egg, boosting cleaning power, but they can also be an irritant and fade coloured garments.
If you regularly find yourself washing muddy clothes or wanting to brighten whites, opt for bio. If you have sensitive skin or wash a lot of delicate materials, give non-bio a try. We’ve featured both in our roundup.
How we test
To find the best eco-friendly laundry detergents on the market, we stained a pile of cotton and polycotton clothes with common household stains such as tea, mud and makeup. We then ran a series of 40-degree cycles with each detergent, before assessing stain removal, whiteness retention and colour fading using a high-tech piece of lab equipment called a DigiEye.
The same 10 detergents were also handed out to a panel – their feedback was taken into consideration when awarding each product an overall score. You’ll find our eight favourites – four bio and four non-bio – below.
We’ve listed the eco claims of each product too, so you can prioritise what’s most important to you.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io
