Hello, have been looking around and cant see a review by choice on these or anything on discussion boards. Getting alot of ads on social media for these washing machine detergent sheets and dishwasher sheets…from the ads and website they look like a piece of paper and seem to dissolve in water.
The big selling point of these sheets seems to be environmental and cost - less weight/water/filler meaning cheaper shipping/smaller footprint and also reducing plastic waste.
If anyone has used would be good to hear your experience. Do they actually work?
Would be great if choice could include some of these products in the next dishwasher tablet and washing machine detergent reviews.
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I normally use Biozet, but fell for an ad on facebook for the “Evercleaner” brand washing machine detergent sheets. I have been pleasantly surprised by both the end result and the fresh smell emanating from the machine at the wash conclusion. I still have a lot of Biozet to finish up but all things being equal, I think I’ll switch to detergent sheets permanently, eventually
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Welcome to the Community @User1,
This topic is about detergent sheets and includes some commentary from Choice. Note it is from 2021 and detergent products seem to change regularly.
With powders, capsules, discs, and sheets on the market it creates product confusion. One thing that seems a constant is that the more advertising and marketing done on social media the more sceptical a consumer should be. Good products with market share find their ways into rigorous tests such as Choice conducts as well as onto grocery shelves where customers are happy with them and repurchase the products.
It is fine to give them a try and since we are all individual what works a treat for one of us might fail miserably for another because of our personal ways of using them, local water supplies, or the appliance itself.
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While Choice is yet to do a specific washing machine detegent sheet review, it’s sister organisation in the US has and the results are underwhelming…
The detergent sheets tested by Consumer Reports are not dissimilar to those marketed on social media. Based on Consumer Reports testing, I wouldn’t be buying them to replace a good quality powder or liquid laundry detergent.
Edit: Some of their environmental claims of why one should use detergent sheets over more traditional type detergents is interesting. One of the main benefits is the packaging not containing plastics. Many powdered detergents, in similar sized packaging to the sheets, has been plastic free for many years. The plastic claim is also potentially false or misleading as the resin used to make the sheets is a form of plastic.. The environmental claims (such as biodegradtion) are unsubstantiated (and false in the case of the plastic claims) and may fall into the ‘greenwashing’ category.
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I’ve been using detergent sheets exclusively for at lease 5 years now. Started using TruEarth but they are sent from Canada and I objected to the miles. Now using from SpaceWhite which is an Australian company. They really do work. We live on a property and do a lot of outside work that leaves our ‘farm clothes’ very dirty. SpaceWhite strips get all that dirty out without pre-spraying stain remover.
There is no mess like with liquid in the detergent draw. Packaging is in cardboard so no plastic.
Now waiting for SpaceWhite to create dishwasher sheets.
We use Earth Choice powder. Cardboard carton, no plastic bag either. For a typical wash we use half the recommended amount with a warm water cycle.
There are a number of home recipes on line for making your own strips/sheets using a starch as the binder/filler. It looks like the commercial products can use any number of active ingredients. This can include those found in the better known detergents and not so Eco friendly, or …. It’s difficult to believe they can do the same job with less.
The home recipes use a variety of soaps, xyz-alcohol and surfactants. YMMV
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Good Housekeeping is not in the class of Consumer Report, Choice, or Which? but does offer comparative rankings based on testing (US market) products. I enjoyed reading some of their observations. Their ‘how we test’ is described further down in the article.
While the packaging doesn’t have plastic like many powered detergents of similar size, plastic is used in many sheets as the polymer to make the sheets. The information in the link in my previous post is also enlightening.
The type of polymer used to make the sheets isn’t disclosed on packaging - so a consumer doesn’t know if the sheets contain plastic polymers. The marketing of the sheets is misleading as they are very specific to the fact that they saves plastic packaging, which may be correct if one uses detergents such as liquids which come in a plastic container. I am not surprised that they are silent on the materials used to make the sheets as they contradict one of the main claims for using the sheets (another words it is greenwashing and duping customers into a false belief they they are plastic free).
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The polymer in question is said to be polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). That’s what the soluble wrappers on dishwasher tablets are, too.
The problem with “biodegradable” plastics is that most of them break down into microplastics, which are then absorbed into plant and animal (including human) bodies with goodness knows what long-term consequences.
“Compostible” plastics can break down completely, without releasing microplastics - but it takes a large high-temperature composting system to do that. They don’t break down in a home compost heap / bin or in nature.
Is PVA in either of those categories? This study seems to confirm that it isn’t.
It concluded that PVA/PVOH does not release micro- or nanoplastics, and does biodegrade completely under the conditions it’s discharged into (ie into sewerage systems):
PVOH used in liquid detergent capsule films does not meet any of the definitions of microplastic:(1) it is not micro- or nano-sized; (2) it is highly water-soluble; and (3) it is biodegradable in the environmental conditions where it is discharged.
I am guessing that this would apply to the PVA/PVOH in dishwasher detergent tablet wrappers and laundry detergent sheets as well.
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There is mixed information about whether PVAs (dissolving polymer plastic polyvinyl alcohol) are completely removed by conventional waste water treatment systems. There seems to be growing evidence that this doesn’t occur fully and a significant proportion of PVAs pass through treatment and is released into the environment. There is also mixed information whether the release of PVA into the environment is acceptable or causes impacts. Some argue that since it continually breaks down and disappears after several months, it isn’t a problem. Others argue releasing any plastics in the environment should be treated with caution, even if the plastics have a short life.
There seems more work is needed to determine impacts of PVAs into the environment. I personally believe releasing less is better than more, even if one hopes more isn’t too much of a problem.
PVAs used in the sheets are a plastic and a product from the oil/hydrocarbon industry. While PVA doesn’t degrade into microplastics like many other plastics is potentially a positive, I suspect many users of the laundry detergent sheets don’t realise that laundry detergent sheets can contains plastic. This is very different to the impression from the marketing of these products that they are ‘green’ and ‘plastic free’/reduce plastic consumption’ compared to traditional washing detergents.
Irrespective of this, the laundry detergent sheets are marketed as being a way one can reduce plastic use. Even in this thread this has shown to convince consumers these sheets are worth buying/trying on this premise. These claims aren’t unsupported and using laundry sheets results in more plastic use than say powdered detergent in a cardboard box. It is ‘greenwashing’ at its worst.
Those selling or promoting these sheets give the impression that the sheets are plastic free (this website like many others claim plastic free status - note that it claims one particular sheet is plastic free, even though the manufacturer has acknowledged PVAs are used). This is false and misleading. If they sold the sheets as ‘plastics used in the sheets don’t cause microplastics’ or ‘does not contain microplastic forming plastics’, then these claims might be supportable.
Edit: while not all laundry detergent sheets contain PVAs, it is challenging to find out which ones do and don’t. Looking online, maybe half those widely marketed have PVA listed on packaging or buried in the products website (such as in dropdown FAQ lists). Others appear not to have PVAs, with some indicating they don’t have PVAs but use other polymers such as plant derived polymers. I haven’t checked the claims made about these other polymers. And some I didn’t have any luck in initial searches on whether PVAs were ingredients. This might be because detergents, unlike food, don’t have mandatory ingredient listing. This potentially advantages those which contain PVAs but chose not to disclose it is the case. Irrespective of whether products contain PVAs or not, there is widespread marketing messaging and promotional materials claiming detergent sheets are eco-friendly and reduce plastic use/waste. Such claims are concerning and in many cases would be ‘greenwashing’. Possibly an expose on the laundry sheet industry should be done as there is a lot of misinformation and most consumer would find it difficult to determine what is fact, or what is fiction. It also appears comments made by doting users on social media perpetuate the misinformation thus assisting in the deception.
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Agreed! It’s clear that the “reducing plastic use” claims by the laundry detergent sheet manufacturers is green-washing.
Note: “PVOH” is the chemical acronym for polyvinyl alcohol. “PVA” can be ambiguous, as it also refers to the polyvinyl acetate in wood glue.
The PVOH/PVA used to bind the detergent into soluble sheets is a type of plastic, so they cannot claim to be plastic-free, nor even to contain less plastic than liquid laundry detergent capsules do.
Packaging in plain cardboard boxes / envelopes is a point in favour of any detergent, because it avoids the types of plastic that decay into microplastics.
At least the PVOH used for these detergents does not break into microplastics.
So in my opinion, where dishwasher tablets are concerned, soluble PVOH wrappers are preferable to the microplastic-producing individual plastic or mylar wrappers that preceded them.
Of course, it’s better to have no plastic at all. Laundry powder in plain cardboard boxes, without any plastic bags or scoops, is the greenest laundry choice at present.
The information is mixed because so are the chemical formulations involved. PVOH is used for a wide range of purposes other than the soluble films we’ve mentioned above. It comes in a large number of different formulations / combinations with other chemicals, and they have different breakdown properties.
To quote the article I cited in my previous post, which tested how the form of PVOH used in detergent capsules behaves. They began by “reviewing the literature” - looking at published articles about PVOH in the environment (with my emphasis):
In conclusion, the available literature does not indicate an association of PVOH film from detergent capsules with environmental microplastic. Nevertheless, it also shows that traces of PVOH from other sources can indeed be found in the marine environment. It is important to note that PVOH has many, very different applications. The overarching nomenclature of PVOH covers a broad variety of polymer designs – several of which do not exhibit the same water solubility and biodegradability as the PVOH grades used for detergent film applications. Thus, it is not surprising that such materials may indeed persist sufficiently long in the environment to be detectable.
Then they carried out tests on PVOH detergent capsules, and concluded that
PVOH used in liquid detergent capsule films does not meet any of the definitions of microplastic:(1) it is not micro- or nano-sized; (2) it is highly water-soluble; and (3) it is biodegradable in the environmental conditions where it is discharged.
If one accepts those conclusions, I think this type and usage of PVOH is relatively harmless.
More to the point, though, is the never-ending push to add yet more plastic to our lives and environment, without any apparent reason.
I personally don’t see a need for liquid laundry detergent capsules and laundry detergent sheets that can’t be met with laundry powder.
But I admit that I don’t know what I don’t know. Do other people genuinely need these items?
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The relatively recent literature review and modelling linked above, Degradation of Polyvinyl Alcohol in US Wastewater Treatment Plants and Subsequent Nationwide Emission Estimate, finds:
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a water-soluble plastic…Literature review data, when incorporated into our model, resulted in ~61% of PVA ending up in the environment via the sludge route and ~15.7% via the aqueous phase. PVA presence in the environment, regardless of its matrix, is a threat to the ecosystem due to the potential mobilization of heavy metals and other hydrophilic contaminants.
Microplastics are only one consideration of impact on the environment. I agree that while PVAs (PVOHs) have been assessed as being unlikely to contribute to environmental microplastics, the jury is still out in relation to effect within the environment. The above paper raises the ‘threat to the ecosystem due to the potential mobilization of heavy metals and other hydrophilic contaminant’. While this is a deduction, if it is found to be the case it is something which would be of concern. Likewise, allegations that it may bioaccumulate.
I don’t think that the conclusion that
can be made at this stage. Further research is needed to be able to draw such a conclusion.
Couldn’t agree more.
Unfortunately we live in a world where someone comes up with what they think is a great idea to make heaps of money…and then advertise heavily in social media, including using influencers and anecdotal reviews (in this case with dubious claims), to create a market. Others see that a product has been successfully marketed and then also join the bandwagon. Even the supermarkets have joined the bandwagon by selling laundry detergent sheets as they don’t want to miss out on the market/sales opportunity.
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