Laundry Detergents

There are lots of things to consider if you want to do laundry in the most eco-friendly way.

This guide focuses on the ethical and sustainability credentials of the detergent products we use, and the companies that make them, and asks questions like:

• is laundry detergent vegan?
• is laundry detergent cruelty free or does the company test on animals?
• is there plastic packaging?
• can you buy refills of laundry products?
• which is best: laundry sheets, liquid, capsules or powder?
• are there chemicals in laundry detergent?
• are there polymers or microplastics in laundry detergent?

How ethical are laundry detergents?

The key ethical issues for laundry detergents are harmful ingredients, animal-derived ingredients, animal testing, and single use packaging. Fortunately, there are a lot of brands doing great work to address these issues, so there are plenty of ethical options to choose from.

As always in our ethical shopping guides, we dig the dirt on the companies behind the brands. 

We found that several of the bigger brands were involved in likely tax avoidance, excessive pay, or fossil fuel development. A new addition to the guide is INEOS since its appearance on supermarket shelves. However, we list it as a Brand to Avoid due to its involvement in the petrochemical industry, among other things. 

Since we last looked at washing powder and laundry liquid, laundry sheets have become much more popular. These are thin sheets of detergent that you put straight into the drum of your machine – sold by Earth Breeze, Homethings and OceanSaver. We look into how ethical and sustainable they are. 

Which is the most eco friendly for washing clothes: powder, liquid, pod or sheet?

We advise buying powder or liquid – either are good choices. 

Most refill options are liquid, though some brands offer powder refills. Powders often come in plastic-free packaging and are more concentrated than liquid as they don’t contain water.

Pods and sheets may be light and convenient, but they usually contain poorly biodegradable liquid polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol, also known as PVA or PVOH. Polyvinyl alcohol is a type of plastic, so it feels rather deceptive when brands use “plastic free” as a key selling point despite using this controversial substance. We cover plastic-based ingredients further on in this guide.

Also, while it is good that some brands selling capsules and pods are avoiding plastic packaging, if you are getting these products delivered on a regular basis (as many of these brands encourage) there is still the impact associated with ongoing deliveries and a lot of packaging – even if it is non-plastic packaging. It is better to find your nearest refill station or buy in bulk, if this is possible for you.

Bio or non-bio washing detergents?

Biological laundry detergent contains enzymes that break down protein, starches, and fat, which can make them more effective at removing tough stains compared to non-biological detergents – though modern non-bio detergents work very well, even at low temperatures.

Biological detergents have been commonplace for decades, yet there is still debate around whether they can be harmful to the skin, especially when it comes to young children and those with sensitive skin. A paper published in the British Journal of Dermatology (2008) argued: “The weight of evidence is now convincing that consumer use of enzyme-containing laundry detergent products does not pose any greater risk of skin irritation than that of their ‘non-biological’ variants.” And the NHS website still states: “There's no evidence that using washing powders with enzymes … will irritate your baby's skin.”

However, other studies have suggested that the recent rise in allergic diseases could be the result of laundry detergents, particularly those containing enzymes. One study suggests that laundry detergent “may be an important factor that impairs the skin barrier and leads to allergen sensitization in early life, and therefore may have a role in the increase in allergic disease.” It should be noted that this study, as with many in this field, used animal testing. Animal testing is not only cruel, but it is often unreliable due to the biological differences between humans and other animals.

The jury is still out, so you may just have to see what works for you. From personal experience I have avoided biological laundry liquid like the plague ever since I was a child after my mother once used it to wash my underwear, resulting in a school day of torturous formication!

Refills and buying in bulk

From an environmental perspective, reusing is better than recycling. We recommend reusing a container and refilling it at your local refill station – not only does this minimise single-use packaging, but it also helps keep your local economy alive. Many of our best buy recommended brands supply cleaning products at refill stations often found in zero waste shops or independent health food shops.

If this isn’t possible for you, then buying in bulk is a great option, especially if it is from one of our best buy recommended brands that will take back the bulk container after you’ve used it. All our best buy brands offer this service except for: Friendly Soap, which uses plastic-free packaging; Smol, which sends laundry liquid in 2 x 500ml cardboard refill pouches; and Sonett, which can be bought in bulk, but its take back scheme is currently only available in Germany.

Which laundry detergent brands have the most sustainable packaging?

All laundry detergent brands were rated on their approach to packaging, particularly reducing single-use plastics. We looked at how brands had reduced the packaging of their products, as well as what they were doing to reduce tertiary packaging (the packaging in their own operations, not seen by the consumer) and the packaging used by their suppliers. 

To achieve top marks (100), companies had to be reducing packaging at all levels. 

The top brands, who scored 60 and above in this category were:

• 100 points: Fill Refill, Friendly Soap, SESI, Smol, Sonett
• 90 points: Greenscents, Miniml
• 80 points: Bio-D
• 70 points: Faith in Nature
• 60 points: Ecoleaf (Suma), Homethings, OceanSaver

More detail about what they are doing about packaging is provided at the end of this guide.

From the above list, we can see this leaves a lot of companies not doing very much about reducing packaging or switching away from plastic. 

Some brands failed to score any points in this category. The worst for not tackling packaging, with 0 points, were:

• Astonish
• INEOS
• McBride (Clean n Fresh, Surcare)
• Procter & Gamble (Ariel, Bold, Daz, Lenor)
• Unilever (Comfort, Persil, Surf)

Are there any vegan and cruelty free washing powders or liquids?

There are several companies which are vegan, and which have the strongest policies on animal testing. Other brands may make some vegan products but are vegetarian, and some brands which make vegan products are owned by brands that are not vegan or vegetarian and which test on animals.

Vegan companies and brands

The following companies are fully vegan:

• Astonish
• ATTITUDE
• Bio-D
• Faith in Nature
• Fill Refill
• Friendly Soap
• Greenscents 
• Homethings
• Kit & Kin
• Miniml 
• Smol
• Splosh

Vegetarian-owned brands

The SESI and ecoleaf brands are vegan, but owned by companies which wholesale some vegetarian products. (The only non vegan product sold by SESI is milk chocolate buttons made by Chocolate & Love, which SESI wholesales.)

Non-vegetarian owners of vegan brands

The Ecover and Method brands are vegan, but they are owned by SC Johnson which is not. SC Johnson tests on animals.

Which laundry brands are certified cruelty free?

The following brands are certified cruelty free for all their products,:

• Astonish
• Bio-D
• ecoleaf
• Ecover
• Faith in Nature
• Fill Refill
• Friendly Soap
• Greenscents 
• Homethings
• Method
• Smol
• Splosh

In addition, Attitude, Kit & Kin, and Miniml, were ‘cruelty free’ but lacked certification.

SESI was not certified but got top marks for its animal testing policies.

Which brands score the highest for animal ethics?

To get full marks in our animal category, a company had to be certified cruelty free (operate a fixed cut-off date) and not use any animal-derived ingredients. 

Below are the brands that scored 50 and above, and what certification scheme/s they use.

100/100

• Astonish, Bio-D, Faith in Nature, Fill Refill, Friendly Soap, Greenscents, Homethings, SESI, Smol, Splosh – Leaping Bunny certified and animal derivative free.

80/100

• Earth Breeze – Peta certified (no fixed cut-off date) and animal derivative free

70/100

• Attitude, Kit & Kin, Miniml – ‘Cruelty free’ but lacked certification, no animal derivatives.
• Ecoleaf (Suma) – Had a fixed cut-off date for all own-brand products and required all retailed household goods and cosmetics to be certified cruelty free. Suma is a vegetarian company and sold a number of animal products such as dairy, eggs, and honey, but 90% of its products are vegan and all Ecoleaf products are vegan certified.
• OceanSaver – ‘Cruelty free’ but lacked certification (though was in the process of getting it), no animal derivatives.

50/100

• Ecover & Method – Both were Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free and didn’t use any animal derivatives, but lost points due to their parent company SC Johnson.
• Ecozone – Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free and did not use animal derivatives, but it lost points because it is ultimately owned by an investment firm which lacked policies around these issues and invested in healthcare and drug discovery, which are high risk for animal testing. 
• Sodasan – Had a policy not to test on animals, most products were vegan certified except one, which contained the animal derivative ‘Fel Tauri’ (ox bile) powder.
• Sonett – Had a no-animal-testing policy but no fixed-cut-off date, used a small amount of animal derivatives in some products, though most of its laundry products were vegan certified.

Are there harmful ingredients in my laundry detergent?

Our harmful ingredients category awards companies for explicitly excluding certain ingredients that are harmful to human health. These are triclosan, phthalates, parabens, and formaldehyde. There are other potentially harmful ingredients, but we think that if a company has excluded these four, it’s a good indication that they’re likely to prohibit all of the most toxic ingredients. 

All of our best buys brands (apart from Faith in Nature), named all four as excluded. Faith in Nature only lost points for not having a clear statement that it did not use formaldehyde, however, no products containing formaldehyde were found on its website.

PVA and microplastics

The harmful ingredients category also gave points to companies for excluding microplastics. Microplastics can be harmful to human and animal health. They can be both solid and not biodegrade, or liquid and biodegrade poorly, and we looked for companies to exclude both.

There is some disagreement over whether polyvinyl alcohol (also known as PVA and PVOH) is really biodegradable and the extent to which it is harmful. But the Beat the Microbead campaign includes PVA in its red list of ingredients found to contain synthetic polymers which are commonly considered to be microplastic ingredients.

The NGO Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS) is campaigning against the use of biodegradable plastics, stating that they

“can present similar hazards in the natural environment to plastics, and the testing methods for biodegradable plastics do not yet reflect realistic use or existing environmental conditions.”

Ruta Almedom, Head of Science at CodeCheck, told us: “PVA can't be considered readily biodegradable. The method often used by companies to claim biodegradability only works under specific circumstances, which do not reflect environmental reality. The often-used Zahn-Wellens test (OECD 302) shows if a substance is ‘inherently biodegradable’ – meaning it is not persistent. However, this does not prove that this substance is also readily biodegradable in the aquatic environment.”

We therefore deducted points from companies that were using PVA. Brands affected were: Astonish, Bio-D, Earth Breeze, Homethings, OceanSaver, Smol, and Suma. Others, Attitude and Kit & Kin also lost marks as they sold dishwasher tablets in "water-soluble" wrappers and we assumed that these were made from PVA.

Homethings had a page on its website discussing the PVA debate, though did advertise its products as “plastic free”.

Other companies found to be using liquid polymers on the Beat the Microbead red list were Ecozone, INEOS, and SC Johnson (owner of Ecover and Method). 

Perfume and fragrances

Synthetic fragrances are used in most mainstream detergents. The word ‘Fragrance’ or ‘Parfum’ on a label represents an undisclosed mixture of various scent chemicals and ingredients, potentially including hormone-disrupting phthalates, synthetic musks, and ethylene oxide. Fragrance mixes have also been associated with allergies, dermatitis and respiratory problems. Alternative products are commonly either fragrance-free or they use essential oils.

Surfactants and biodegradability

Surfactants are the main active ingredient in detergents. They work by keeping dirt suspended in the water.
Surfactants can be made from plant oils such as palm or coconut oil, or can be synthesised from waste materials from the petroleum industry.

EU law requires that surfactants used in domestic detergents must be aerobically biodegradable (it will biodegrade if oxygen is present) and break down by 60% within 28 days. Petroleum-based surfactants can pass this test.

Companies such as Bio-D, Greenscents and Sodasan use only plant-based surfactants which are readily biodegradable meaning that they break down completely within a short period. As plant-based surfactants may be derived from palm oil, it’s important to check how companies are sourcing this. 

Which companies use palm oil in laundry detergent?

Palm oil is a controversial ingredient used in many products, with links to environmental destruction and workers' rights abuses. 

Some people seek to avoid any products with palm oil, and some people look for 'sustainable' palm.

Since 2021, when we made our palm oil rating stricter, no large companies using this versatile ingredient have been able to score well in this category. Even those that have all palm ingredients certified and are publicly tracking grievances raised in their supply chain, as well as disclosing which producers they source from, still fall short. We have yet to find a producer list that doesn’t include producers known to have ineffective NDPE measures, which stands for ‘No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation.’

This was the case for three of the biggest companies in these guides, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever, which were also found to have serious third-party criticisms related to their palm oil supply chains and lost points for this. 

How do brands rate for palm oil?

Greenscents was the only company which was completely palm free.

Most companies in our detergent guides did have all their palm ingredients certified, including all or most of the derivatives. 

We applied the following rating for palm oil if fully certified:

• brands with a turnover over £100m a year scored 40 (out of 100)
• between £10m-£100m scored 60, and under £10m scored 80.

Companies which did not meet our usual criteria but had taken some action on palm ingredients scored 20. This included: Astonish, Kit & Kin, and McBride (Clean n Fresh, Surcare).

Companies which lacked information on palm oil

A number of companies had a lack of information on palm but were using ingredients which could be derived from palm. This included two of the new brands in this guide which make laundry sheets – Earth Breeze and Homethings.

Attitude had no information on palm oil on its website. Ecozone had a palm oil free icon, but this was not on all products. Ineos’s latest report to the RSPO was incomplete, with no figures for palm usage. Its previous report showed only 16% as certified.

Which brands sell what type of laundry detergent? 

Some brands make a range of products, while other make only one thing e.g. laundry sheets.

For some of the higher scoring brands, we've compared what they make, the price, if refill options are available, and how many washes it gives you. We've split the two tables by washing powder and laundry liquid.

Laundry liquid brands: price, refill, bulk and non-bio options of eco friendly laundry liquid brands 

*Based on the price of a 5L container. As SESI and Sonett do not sell directly, prices were found at online retailers, so prices may vary. **A further 10% discount is available if you subscribe. ***Refills of 500ml are sent in cardboard which then must be recycled.

The price per wash should be used as a rough guide as there is likely to be variation in how each brand calculated its number of washes per litre. For example, one brand may have assumed a wash is 5 kg of lightly soiled clothes while another bases it on 8 kg of heavily soiled clothes. Some disclose these assumptions while other do not.

Washing powders: price, refill bulk and non-bio options of eco friendly washing powder brands

For some of the higher scoring brands who make washing powder, we've compared what they make, the price, if refill and bulk options are available, and bio or non-bio options.

*Based on the largest size available. As SESI and Sonett do not sell directly, prices were found at online retailers, so prices may vary. **A further 10% discount if you subscribe.

How much detergent should you use?

Always check the instructions, but all our Best Buys use concentrated formulas so you shouldn’t need a lot. And somewhat counter-intuitively, if you use too much detergent some of it might not get washed away, which could leave your clothes dirty and in need of another wash.

For more tips on reducing the impact of your laundry see our washing machines guide.

Low impact laundry and alternatives to buying detergents

If you’re looking to reduce the environmental impact of your laundry washing, some or all of the following can help:

• Wash at 30°C.
• Wash less often! Air your clothes after wearing to make them last longer, and wait for a full load.
• Dry laundry on the line or a clothes horse, not in a tumble dryer.
• Try making your own cleaner (see below).

Several of these tips also help reduce the shedding of microfibres from synthetic clothes such as nylon and polyester. This plastic waste is damaging water sources and the animals that live in rivers, lakes and oceans.

Our washing machine guide has more tips about how to make your laundry more sustainable. 

Who owns Ariel, Bold, Ecover and Persil, and how ethical are they?

There can be a dazzling array of choice for laundry detergents, not just in the type (powder, liquid, sheets, pods), but also the brands. Some brands which you may swap between or compare in the supermarket may well be owned by the same parent company! 

Here are some of the big name brands in laundry detergents and their owner - and spoiler, they all perform poorly in this guide!

• Procter & Gamble: Ariel, Bold, Daz, Lenor
• Reckitt Benckiser: Vanish, Woolite
• SC Johnson: Ecover, Method
• Unilever: Comfort, Persil, Surf

How do laundry detergent brands rate for workers' rights?

Only Fill Refill, Greenscents, and Miniml scored 100 (top marks) in the workers category. They make their products in-house and have direct oversight of, and responsibility for, the conditions of the workers making their products. 

Astonish and Faith in Nature also make all their products in-house in the UK but didn't quite get top marks (we look at a number of things in our workers category.) Bio-D, SESI, and Splosh make some of their products in-house.

In this category, we normally give points to companies who publish the names and addresses of their suppliers. We see this as a positive because it allows supply chain workers and their representatives to see who is buying the products and materials they make. This increases the possibility of holding brands to account for workers’ rights abuses in their supply chains.

Transparency of this kind is now common in the garment sector and, to some extent, the food sector, which have been subject to media and NGO scrutiny for their supply chain practices for many years. But in this cleaning sector, no companies published their supplier lists. Maybe it’s time to subject the cleaning brands to the same kind of scrutiny as food and clothing brands. 

UPDATE: Since publishing our guide, SESI responded to the challenge and has now published its suppliers on its website. 

What are laundry detergent brands doing about climate action?

Five companies got top marks in this category, which included credible discussion of emissions cuts past and
future. These were Faith in Nature, Fill Refill, Reckitt Benckiser (Vanish, Woolite), SESI, and Smol.

Small companies don’t often have complete information on all their carbon impacts, but Faith in Nature reported
its scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and SESI was in the process of calculating its full carbon emissions to set a baseline for its reduction targets. Fill Refill and Smol discussed product use and how their products could be used efficiently, for example they made laundry products that can be used at lower temperatures.

Where small companies had a lower carbon product, we gave them points for past and future emissions reductions as the product would continue to create carbon savings into the future. This was the case with brands offering refills and concentrated products such as Miniml and Splosh.

Ineos was the only company to score 0 for climate as it was involved in new development of fossil fuels.

Which brands have an ethical corporate ethos?

Brands received company ethos points for a range of things, notably: alternative company structures such
as co-operatives and not-for-profits, and whether they were considered to be offering an environmental or social
alternative e.g. working to reduce single-use plastic and packaging (such as by offering refills or bulk options), being certified cruelty free, or being a vegan company. 

The following brands were considered social/environmental alternatives:

• Bio-D
• Faith in Nature
• Fill Refill
• Friendly Soap
• Greenscents 
• Kit & Kin
• Miniml 
• SESI
• Sodasan
• Sonett
• Suma (Ecoleaf)

In contrast, points were also deducted from companies with excessive director pay, or operations in controversial sectors, or who were subject to a boycott call.

Brands who failed to score any points for company ethos include:

• Ecozone's owner
• Ineos
• Procter & Gamble
• SC Johnson (owner of Ecover and Method)