Are you looking for the best eco friendly dishwasher tablet?
Great news! Switching to an eco dishwasher tablet is an easy and impactful swap to make.
No more parabens, triclosan and bleaches going on your dishes and down into the water system.
The good news is there’s a range of eco friendly dishwasher tablets on the market.
Here are some of the best dishwasher tablets you can buy to reduce your impact.
10 Best Eco Friendly Dishwasher Tablets
Let’s take a look at some of the best eco friendly dishwasher tablets.
Opting for a greener choice will help you to run a more sustainable kitchen that limits your impact on the environment.
1. Ecozone
Ecozone are an excellent British company with a range of eco friendly home cleaning products.
Their all-in-one brilliance dishwasher tablets are palm oil free, animal friendly and made with powerful plant based ingredients.
For best value, go for the 65 tablet packet that comes packaged in cardboard. The tablets are individually wrapped but these are dissolvable.
I’ve also used the Ecozone sustainable washing up liquid and it was brilliant.
2. Bio D
Bio D are an independent, family owned company based in the UK, which is where their eco dishwasher tablets are made.
The Bio D dishwasher tablets will keep your dishes and glasses sparkling clean, whilst being free from plastic, parabens, SLS, microbeads, phthalates, phosphates, synthetic fragrances and bleach. As well as being environmentally friendly, the Bio D dishwasher tablets are vegan friendly too and come in a small recycled cardboard box.
I’ve also used the Bio D washing up liquid, which I thought was excellent.
3. Ocean Saver
As the name suggests, Ocean Saver have our waterways at heart.
The Ocean Saver all-in-one dishwasher tablets are plastic-free and come with built in rinse aid and salt. They’re free of parabens, phthalate, triclosan and SLS. They contain sustainable palm oil and are made with over 96% natural ingredients.
These eco dishwasher tablets are packaged in recyclable cardboard.
4. Ecoleaf
The Ecoleaf dishwasher tablets are made from all-natural ingredients and plant extracts from sustainable sources.
Plus, the tablets come in a recyclable cardboard box with water-soluble PVA wrapping. You can get the small package with 25 tablets to try it out or opt for a larger one with 70 tablets.
Still, the most important aspect of dishwasher tablets is how effective they are. These vegan friendly tablets are tough against stains and grease!
5. Smol
Smol’s dishwasher tablets are powerful, eco-friendly, vegan and cruelty-free.
A great thing about Smol is that they offer a free trial. If you end up liking the trial package, you can upgrade to their subscription model. They will then post out your eco friendly dishwasher tablets in a small cardboard box timed to your exact needs. This is available in the US and UK.
So, you can get your monthly supply of eco-friendly dishwasher tablets without lifting a finger and for an affordable price.
6. Blueland
The Blueland eco dishwasher tablets are 98% bio-based and free from harsh chemicals, dyes, parabens and fragrances.
In terms of sustainability, these dishwasher tablets don’t come wrapped in any single-use plastic and they’re sent in compostable packaging, which brilliant. If you don’t want compost it straight away, you can reuse the packaging and get refills for it.
Blueland are a B Corp certified company and are as eco friendly as you get!
7. Ecover
Ecover won’t just clean your dishes in an environmentally friendly way. These tablets will also leave your utensils smelling fresh with multiple scents to choose from. If you’re sensitive to fragrances, there’s a fragrance-free all-in-one tablets too.
The tablets are tough on grease and stains because of the scrubbing action of salt as one of the main ingredients. This makes for a thorough cleaning cycle, even at low temperatures.
Unfortunately, the tablets are wrapped in plastic to keep them from disintegrating. Still, Ecover is working towards only using recycled plastic through their refillution project.
8. Claro
Claro ecological dishwasher tablets come free of phosphate, chlorine and palm oil.
Based in Austria, Claro are an eco friendly brand with a number of sustainability certificates, including an EU Ecolabel to Flustix.
All in all, the Claro dishwasher tablets are convenient to use with a water soluble wrapper meaning you can put them straight into the detergent slot.
9. Dropps
Dropps might be a good choice if your dishes tend to have a lot of tough stains. That’s because these dishwasher tablets contain oxygen-based bleach. On top of that, they contain enzymes that help break down any hard-to-remove grease.
With Dropps, you can either choose a fresh-scented option or a fragrance-free one. More importantly, the product packaging is biodegradable.
You might even appreciate the company’s carbon footprint reclamation initiative!
10. Sodasan
Sodasan are a Germany company manufacturing eco friendly dishwasher tablets made from plant-based ingredients. All done from their carbon neutral premises.
The unscented dishwasher tabs are free-from phosphates, chlorine and parabens. They’re also EcoCert certified and vegan friendly.
The Sodasan tablets are individually wrapped but come in a cardboard box.
Main features of environmentally friendly dishwasher tablets
If you’re looking for a more eco friendly dishwasher tablet, there are a few main features you should look out for.
The aim is to tick all of these eco features off, but the more you can get, the more sustainable.
- Single use plastic free – many tablets come individually wrapped in plastic, but not all
- Biodegradable packaging or at least recyclable
- Plant based ingredients and use of natural extracts
- No harsh chemicals
- No palm oil
- Cruelty-free (no animal testing)
Downsides of traditional dishwasher tablets
If you prefer to use the dishwasher vs hand washing for each or efficiency, you’ll want to be clued up about the detergent tablets.
Unfortunately, most commercial dishwasher tablets aren’t eco-friendly and are not sustainably produced.
For starters, most of them contain single-use plastic.
Recent studies show that a portion of the PVA coat on the tablets doesn’t break down as it should and gets released to waterways, which can impact marine life.
Not only that, but traditional tablets contain non-biodegradable materials and harsh chemicals.
Producing harsh chemicals is an intensive process that’s not good for the environment.
Here’s a list of some harsh chemicals to watch out for:
- Chlorinated bleaches
- Phthalates
- Parabens
- Triclosan
- Ammonia
- Chlorine
- Phosphate
- Sodium lauryl sulfate
- Sodium hydroxide
Don’t forget your eco friendly dishwasher rinse aid
Alongside your main eco friendly dishwasher detergent tablet, you can also add rinse aid to your cycles.
Rinse aid helps water to slide off your dishes and grain away, helping them to dry quicker.
Next to your dishwasher detergent slot, you can usually find the rinse aid section. You’ll have to top this up occasionally.
Many of the eco brands above also produce a rinse aid product, such as Bio D, Ecover and Ecozone.
I’ve been using a sustainable rinse aid from Supalife.
Their eco-mate range is completely plastic free and contains no fossil-fuel products. The bottle is actually made from biodegradable paper with a little sustainable cork topper.
I think it’s a great product. Use code TINYECO for 25% off.
Related Posts:
- How Much Does It Cost To Run A Dishwasher?
- 5 Best Eco Washing Up Liquid Alternatives
- How Much Energy Does A Tumble Dryer Use?
I’m the Creator and Editor of Tiny Eco Home Life. I write and publish information about more sustainable, environmentally friendly living in and around the home. Alongside this website, I love spending time in the natural world, living a simple life and spending time with my young family (Murphy the dog!) I round up my thoughts and recent blogs on the Eco Life Newsletter.
