Are you looking for a more environmentally friendly way to wash your clothes? Wondering if Earth Breeze UK can fulfil your eco laundry detergent needs?
In this Earth Breeze review, I’ll take a look at the company itself, how green their product is and if it is genuinely a better option for the environment.
Having used the product myself, I can also let you know if the Earth Breeze laundry sheets are effective for cleaning your clothes.
Disclaimer: Earth Breeze sent me two packs of laundry sheets as a gift to try out. I have since used all of the sheets and fully researched the products. This blog contains affiliate links. This Earth Breeze review aims to be fair, honest and balanced.
Why go for an eco laundry detergent? Why Earth Breeze UK?
Cleaning your clothes with traditional laundry detergent uses a surprising amount of plastic.
The plastic bottles containing the detergent mount up into many millions of tonnes of waste across the world each year.
Earth Breeze are a company aiming to buck the trend and go plastic-free when it comes to laundry detergent.
Earth Breeze do make some bold claims – environmentally friendly, zero waste packaging and a green solution to the laundry industry. How true are these claims? Are these laundry sheets eco friendly?
To give you the concise answer, the Earth Breeze laundry sheets are a much greener alternative than traditional laundry detergent. They use vegan friendly ingredients and their sheets come in biodegradable packaging. Earth Breeze are also a carbon neutral business.
To find out all the details, read more on my Earth Breeze UK review below.
Who are Earth Breeze?
Earth Breeze is an American company, headquartered in Oregon. They were founded at the end of 2019 and is owned by Jon Wedel. Although they are based in the US, they do operate in the UK and in Europe.
They are on a mission to create superior, zero waste products to deliver meaningful environmental and social impact. Their aim is to create a sustainable and green solution for the laundry industry that is better for the environment and your clothes.
Earth Breeze use We Are Neutral to offset their entire carbon footprint (including supply chain) and they are a member of 1% for the Planet, aiming to put planet before profit.
As a company, they’ve also completed multiple beach clean ups.
Currently, Earth Breeze produce two types of eco friendly laundry detergent sheets:
- Fragrance Free
- Fresh Scent
How good are the Earth Breeze eco sheets?
If you’re buying an eco laundry detergent, the first thing you’ll want to know is does it do its main job and clean your clothes?
I am no laundry expert, but my household has cleaned 80 loads of washing using the Earth Breeze detergent sheets. From what I can see, they’ve done a good job.
My clothes always come out clean, smelling fresh and with no remnants or residue remaining. Job done for me.
I haven’t tested Earth Breeze on anything that’s been heavily soiled items, for example muddy or grass stained clothes. I have tried it with poo-stained baby clothes, and although it cleaned the clothes great, it didn’t remove the stains. For the tough stuff, it’s likely you’d need a stain remover too.
The Earth Breeze detergent formula has been designed to work for people with sensitive skin. Their gentle formula is also good to use when washing baby clothes and washing reusable nappies.
How to use these eco sheets?
The first point to note is that the Earth Breeze laundry sheets come in a small, flat, dehydrated sheet. Each sheet measures roughly the size of your hand.
These sheets are very handy as they are pre-measured. One sheet is used for a full load.
If for some reason you’re washing a half load of clothes, cut the sheet in two and use half. You can also just rip the sheet in half if you don’t want to get the scissors.
If you have a front load washing machine, just place the sheet in the compartment where you normally put your liquid detergent. If you have a top loading machine, place the sheet straight in the top with your clothes.
A great point for all you eco-conscious washers is that the Earth Breeze sheets dissolve in both hot and cold cycles. So, you can stick to your 30oC or 40oC cycle.
The sheets also work in high efficiency (HE) washers. If you collect water to reuse, the eco sheets are safe to use with grey and septic water.
If you wash any clothes manually, you can soak and dissolve a sheet in the water first, then go ahead with your hand washing.
Now we know how to use the eco sheets and that it works properly as a laundry detergent, let’s take a look at how sustainable and eco-friendly it is.
Key claims for Earth Breeze eco laundry detergent
As mentioned, Earth Breeze make a number of positive environmental claims about their product.
Their key eco claims include:
- Plastic free, biodegradable packaging
- Phosphate, phthalate and paraben free – Parabens (short for para-hydroxybenzoic acid) are a synthetic chemical compound used as a preservative in skin and beauty products. Phthalates are another group of synthetic chemicals used to make plastics more durable.
- Chlorine and bleach free – no need to excessive chemical use
- Vegan and animal cruelty free – the detergent isn’t tested on animals or use animal by-products in the ingredients
- Reduced carbon footprint – due to lightweight packaging and product
- Carbon neutral company (offset entire supply chain)
- Reduced water use – Earth Breeze sheets are liquidless. Around 90% of liquid detergent is water
In terms of the eco credentials, we have to take Earth Breeze’s word for it and hope they’re not greenwashing (pardon the pun).
Aside from the PETA cruelty free and vegan rabbit logo, the other claims haven’t been independently verified as far as I can see and there are no official reports on their website. In fact, you won’t find much info on their website apart from a few FAQs.
Hopefully they can improve their transparency with reports and official documents to prove their green claims.
What detergent ingredients are used?
The Earth Breeze eco sheet ingredients are vegan friendly, hypoallergenic and free from phthalates, parabens and bleach.
That said, the ingredient list does contain a number of questionable, synthetic items. Some of these include: polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyethylene glycol (synthetic chemical derived from petroleum) and ‘fragrance’, which will be of the synthetic kind.
This means that the Earth Breeze detergent sheets are not a fully natural product.
This isn’t to take away from the other good work Earth Breeze have done, but it’s useful to know the full story.
What’s the Earth Breeze packaging like?
The Earth Breeze packaging looks like a small paper envelope.
The packaging is made from a type of cardboard and uses earth-friendly ink, which makes it biodegradable. The Earth Breeze website says that the packaging will ‘biodegrade in about 3 months depending on the environment’.
This makes it compostable, although it doesn’t come with an official compostable logo as recognised in the UK or EU.
To date, Earth Breeze estimate that they’ve saved 750,000 plastic containers going into landfill and oceans.
The other thing to mention about the packaging is that it’s incredibly lightweight. Much, much lighter than a full plastic bottle of laundry detergent.
This means that the carbon footprint associated with transportation is significantly reduced. Earth Breeze state their lightweight packaging lowers the carbon emissions from transport by 94%.
Where is Earth Breeze manufactured?
Earth Breeze tell me that their detergents sheets, including the packaging, are designed in Los Angeles and shipped out of Oregon or from their newly opened UK warehouse. The products I received were sent from the UK from a warehouse that is run on renewable energy.
As for the ingredients and sheets themselves, Earth Breeze tell me that they are sourced ethically in Asia and that they have manufacturing partners in China and in the USA.
Earth Breeze are aiming to open a warehouse in each major country in Europe, which would definitely help reduce transportation emissions. I’d like to see more info on this from their website, but there isn’t much to go off.
How much does Earth Breeze eco detergent cost in the UK?
From their UK website, you can buy a packet of 40 eco sheets for £15.
You also have the option to subscribe for a subscription delivery model where you save 40% on the one-time purchase cost.
The subscription will cost you £9 and you can choose to have your eco sheets delivered every 1, 2 or 3 months. It’s also free delivery with all orders and you can cancel anytime.
I think that is very good value. If you’re not happy with the product, they offer a money back guarantee.
You can head over to the Earth Breeze website to buy their Eco Sheets and get free UK delivery.
Wrap up on Earth Breeze UK eco sheets
And that’s it for my Earth Breeze review.
All in all, Earth Breeze are doing a decent job to be as eco friendly as possible but, as ever, there’s room for improvement.
The packaging is compostable, plastic-free and extremely lightweight, making it an excellent alternative to the traditional plastic bottles that laundry detergent usually comes in.
As for the eco sheets, they do a good job and are very easy to use. I like the fact they come dehydrated and in thin, little strips.
How can Earth Breeze improve environmentally?
To be more environmentally friendly, they would have to sort out two issues. Firstly, the ingredients and sheets are sourced and manufactured in China. These then need to be transported to various places across the world. It’d be great to see Earth Breeze laundry sheets UK-made.
Secondly, they want to be environmentally friendly but are still using petroleum-based, synthetic chemicals.
Away from the product, Earth Breeze aim to offset all of their carbon emissions and take part in good environmental initiatives, such as beach clean ups and tree planting, which is great. For every packet sold, they also donate 10 loads to somewhere in need.
Before you go…
Don’t forget to consider drying your clothes in the most efficient manner too.
Of course, drying naturally under the suns rays combined with wind energy is the best.
If you live in a rainy, cold place you might have to consider a tumble dryer.
Although energy guzzling – you can read here on how much a tumble dryer costs to run – you can increase the efficiency of your dryer and reduce the time it runs for with simple Ecoegg dryer eggs. It’s worth taking a look.
Happy washing!
Related Articles:
- 10 Best Eco Friendly Laundry Sheets UK 2022
- How Much Energy Does a Tumble Dryer Use in 2022?
- Guide To Eco Washing Up Liquid [Plus My Favourite Sustainable Alternatives]
I’m the Creator and Editor of Tiny Eco Home Life. I write and publish information about living a more sustainable, environmentally friendly life. Away from the laptop, I love spending time in nature and with my young family (plus Murphy the dog!). I write and send out the Eco Life Newsletter.
