Eco Friendly Dishwashers

Dishwashers, when used correctly, can be better for the planet than handwashing. This has taken a long time to sink in, perhaps because it seems too good to be true. It also depends on how you do the dishes by hand, and, which program cycle you use for the dishwasher. We look at this in more depth in the guide. 

Doing the dishes isn't a task many people enjoy, and ethical consumers may worry about the energy and water use of dishwasher machines. We also might try to be more ethical by using eco friendly washing up detergent when washing up by hand, or by using eco friendly dishwasher detergents.

But what about dishwashers themselves? What eco and ethical choices are available?

Which dishwasher brands are in the eco shopping guide?

Dishwasher appliances occupy a big chunk of space in kitchens, with several brands filling that space: 35 are reviewed in this guide, yet over half of these brands are owned by just 5 companies (Bosch, Electrolux, Haier Group, Koç, and Whirlpool).

In this guide to eco dishwashers, we review the bestselling brands like Bosch, Beko and Hotpoint, as well as brands at both ends of the price range. 

We look at the commitment by brands to energy efficiency and workers' rights, as well as investigating which companies have policies on use of conflict minerals. We also look at water use and how dishwashers can be more efficient that washing up by hand. 

We also highlight ways to keep your current dishwasher going for longer with some maintenance tips.

In this guide some brands scored almost no points (out of 100), and whilst the top-scoring brands don't get really high scores, there are definite differences in ethics and eco options available if you are looking to buy a new or secondhand dishwasher.

How popular are dishwashers?

Since the early 1990s, dishwashers have had a ‘trickle up’ effect – year on year an extra 1 or 2% of UK households have chosen to have a machine do the washing up for them. By 2018, 49% of UK households had a dishwasher, so by now it's very likely more people have dishwashers than not.

Whether you're in a household with or without a dishwasher, how can you make sure you are being as eco as possible with your dish washing technique? We investigate what is best.

Handwashing versus dishwashing: which is better?

Studies tend to conclude that dishwashers are better for the environment than washing up by hand.

Overall using a dishwasher results in lower carbon emissions, even if you add in its embodied emissions. Handwashing generally uses more water than dishwashers, resulting in more greenhouse gas emissions from distribution, but more importantly, more energy use from heating up the water.

Do dishwashers use a lot of energy?

How much energy is used to wash dishes depends on factors including:

• The energy rating of the dishwasher.
• The cycle setting used.
• How full the dishwasher is.
• If handwashed, what technique the individual uses, particularly how much hot water.

Best practice for washing dishes by hand (while still cleaning effectively) is to soak and scrub dishes in one bowl of hot water, then rinse them in cold water.

Otherwise, washing up by hand can use far more energy than using a dishwasher, especially if done under a running hot tap.

One study suggests that materials and manufacture of a dishwasher constitute only a fraction of the energy used over the lifetime of its use (less than 10%). Mike Berners-Lee comes to the same conclusion in his book, How Bad Are Bananas?

If a dishwasher is well looked after, it can last 15 years or more.

Even if you have a dishwasher, you'll need to do some washing up by hand. This might be for delicate items like very fine glasses, and items which are part-wooden or have glue.

Our guide to washing up detergents reviews the best options for eco friendly washing up liquid and tips on how to be more efficient when washing up by hand.

How much water does a dishwasher use?

A 2020 article published in the Environmental Research Communications journal calculated the average water consumption figures for manual dishwashing as shown in the table below.

This shows how even best practice handwashing can consume significantly more water than machine dishwashers.

Washing dishes with the tap constantly running uses 20 times more water than the most water-efficient machines.

By far the worst option for the planet and your pocket is to wash dishes using a running hot tap.

One study asked participants to wash up dishes by hand and examined their technique:

• 16% demonstrated best practice
• 41% ran the tap constantly
• 43% used a combination of good practice and running the tap

Energy efficient dishwashers

In this guide, the most efficient dishwashers have an A-rating under the relatively new energy label system, and scored points in the energy efficiency category for this. Beko, Haier, Miele, Siemens and Whirlpool all offered an A-rated model.

However, of these brands, Beko and Whirlpool also sold models that were rated E or even F.  

The brands with the most A or B rated models found on their websites at the time of writing were:

• KitchenAid (100% of models, although this was its only model, B rated)
• Gaggenau (91%, B rated)
• Haier (60%, A or B rated)
• Miele (50%, A or B rated)
• Siemens (44%, A or B rated). 

Others had 20% or less. 

Several brands didn’t offer any models above an E-rating, or did not even make it possible to search their websites by energy ratings when we checked in April 2024. These brands were Amica, Belling, Bush, CDA, Fisher & Paykel, Gorenje, Hoover, Indesit, Logik, Neff, Russell Hobbs, Smeg, Stoves and Zanussi. 

Minimising your dishwasher’s impact

Consumers can easily accidentally increase energy usage by 50% by pre-rinsing dishes, incorrectly loading the appliance, or choosing the wrong cycles.

Choose the eco cycle

Which? estimates that you’d save a around 30% in running costs over a year by using the eco program. We therefore recommend always using the eco mode, which now comes as standard even on basic modern dishwashers. These use lower temperatures and less water so cycle lengths are longer in order to guarantee a thorough clean.

Which? also stated “Energy labels are based on a manufacturer nominated program – so always the eco program. But this doesn’t give a good indication of how efficient the machine will be on its auto or normal program.”

Therefore, if you buy a product with a B-rating, but use the regular setting not the eco program, it might not be any better than a lower energy rated model. A 2017 study showed that 87% of the consumers wrongly believed that the energy label covered more than just the most efficient program.

Some dishwashers have a ‘half-load’ setting, but this feature can still use up to 90% of the water and energy used by a full load.

One study tested this on a Miele dishwasher. It showed that if a consumer used the automatic programme instead of the eco cycle, water use would be 44% higher and energy use 62% higher. The intensive/fast wash was even more extreme – water use would be 55% higher, and energy use 73% higher. (The best way to ensure you're choosing the most efficient cycle is to check your manual to see the exact energy and water consumption of different cycles.)

Avoiding selecting options such as heated drying can decrease life cycle greenhouse gas emissions for machine dishwashing by 11%.

To rinse or not to rinse before loading?

In Sweden, 51% of consumers pre-rinse each item quickly, compared to just 10% in Germany. The best option is to avoid rinsing and instead scrape your pots and plates before loading.

Dishwasher maintenance and usage tips

At risk of stating the obvious, the following tips are relevant for eco conscious dish washing:

• Scrape as much food off dishes as possible before loading.
• Ensure it’s full before turning it on, but ...
• Avoid overcrowding the dishwasher.

Less obviously, The Spruce suggests that empty dishwasher space can be filled with cleaning sponges, fridge shelves, vases, toothbrush holders, soap dishes, plastic hairbrushes, (non-wooden) garden tools, flowerpots, grill grates, flip flops or bins.

How ethically and environmentally responsible are dishwasher brands?

We look at how dishwasher brands score for the policies on a range of ethical and environmental issues.

Conflict minerals

Conflict minerals are metal elements that are commonly sourced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the mining trade has, for many years, been used to fund brutal conflicts.

Ethical Consumer expects white goods manufacturers to have an adequate policy addressing conflict minerals whether or not they are bound to do so by law. We also expect them to outline in detail the due diligence steps they take to minimise workers’ rights abuses and environmental issues, rather than just referring to the OECD guidelines. 

In our score table, several brands in this guide got a low score for conflict minerals. Of the 20 rated companies (which cover all 35 brands), four have no conflict mineral policy at all. These are:

• Amica (CDA)
• Glen Dimplex (Stoves, Belling, New World)
• Hisense (Gorenje) 
• Montpellier 

Workers’ rights

The majority of dishwasher brands got zero in the workers column. 

Only two scored more than 20 (out of 100). These were Bush and Miele. 

Are there any environmentally responsible white goods companies?

We also researched how well companies are taking responsibility for their environmental impacts.

Only one brand (Miele) received full marks in the climate column. 

The lowest scorers were Beko, Blomberg, Grundig and Samsung. 

Who owns which dishwasher brands? 

Big brand owners in the dishwasher industry are concentrated in five companies:

• Electrolux (AEG, Electrolux, Zanussi)
• Bosch (Bosch, Gaggenau, Neff, Siemens)
• Haier Group (Baumatic, Candy, Fisher & Paykel, Hoover)
• Koç (Beko, Blomberg, Grundig)
• Whirlpool (Hotpoint, Indesit, Whirlpool)

Bosch is the leading UK dishwasher brand by a long stretch – over 5 million people in Britain had a Bosch dishwasher in 2019. This is more than twice that of its closest competitors Beko and Hotpoint (each with around 2.25 million users), and both of which score very low down on our table.

Additional research by Jasmine Owens.