Best green laundry detergents
Washing powder is not just washing powder anymore. We compared five laundry detergents and learned that some are more eco-friendly than others, some perform well at lower temperatures and some aren't even powders at all. Take the Soapods or the Ecoballs, for example -- who would have thought we could wash our clothes with nuts and balls?
Whether we use nuts, balls or powders, there are certain criteria a laundry detergent must fulfill. Firstly and obviously it has to clean our clothes. We tested all five products -- Ecoballs, Soapods, Simply Sensitive, Ecover and Ariel Sensitive -- at Ariel's benchmarking 30 degrees Celcius, with both whites and coloureds. Any possible differences among the five products on the performance front were undetectable to the eye, so we must assume they all clean equally well.
Other criteria include the products' green and ethical credentials. How good or bad are they for the environment and for our health? Have the products or their ingredients been tested on animals? Do the manufactures have good or bad green and ethical track records?
Soapods comes out as the clear winner here as the actual material is 100 per cent natural (with an organic certification pending) and compostable. It hasn't been near animals and the farmers who grow the nuts are paid well. In theory the Ecoballs are also incredibly eco-friendly as no actual detergents are used to clean the clothes. However, despite numerous phone calls and emails, Ecozone has not given us any information on what exactly the balls are made from, how green -- or polluting -- the pellets and the manufacturing process are. The Chinese factory that makes the balls is a member of Sedex, so we expect the workers have been treated fairly.
Ecover and Simply Sensitive seem very similar, but as Ecover does not contain phosphates and we have more detailed information about it as a company, we're inclined to prefer it. Ariel comes last as it contains more toxic chemicals than the others and Proctor & Gamble, which owns it, has an extremely bad reputation for animal testing. We do thank Ariel for bringing the 'Wash at 30 degrees' mantra to the mainstream, though.
Last but not least, we look at the price. At only 3.5p per wash, Ecoballs are clearly the cheapest way of getting your clothes clean. Simply Sensitive is the second cheapest option at 16.6p per wash, and then the Soapods which will set you back 20p per wash. Ariel costs around 22p per wash and Ecover is the most expensive laundry detergent at 36p per wash.
Many people equate clean laundry with a clean scent. Ariel outperforms any of the others in this area -- but to such an extent that we'd actually say the smell is overpowering. Simply Sensitive and Ecover smell fresh, but the scents quickly disappear. The Ecoballs just don't smell of anything and the Soapods have a very unpleasant vinegary smell. But when we used a few drops of essential lavender oil with the Soapods, our clothes smelt fresh and flowery. Hippy-ish maybe, but we love those Soapods for all they're worth.
Ariel Sensitive Washing Powder
Ecover Original Non-biological Washing Powder
Ecozone Ecoballs
Simply Sensitive Non-Biological Detergent
Soapods
