Every year, only North Americans redo 30 billion lots of laundry! Unfortunately, the standard laundry process involving liquid detergents or powder detergents that come with plastic spoons is very harmful to the environment.

For one thing, 700 million plastic bottles used to package liquid laundry detergents end up in North American landfills each year. In addition, liquid detergents contain:

• Lots of water.
• This makes them heavy and bulky when transporting.
• Significantly increase the carbon footprint of the product.

Fortunately, the following brands are focused on providing more sustainable choices by designing their products with zero waste in mind – meaning no plastic, no water and surprisingly less earth-warming carbon emissions in production and transportation.

True Earth is a relatively new company founded in Canada in 2019 that was launched with zero waste and sustainability in mind. It is developing its flagship product, Eco-Strips, ultra-concentrated detergents in the form of eco-responsible pre-perforated strips, to be used in the same way as powder or liquid detergents.

Eco-Strips packaging is a plastic-free, compostable cardboard sleeve that can be used as a shipping envelope after using the strips to further reduce waste. Each package contains 32 strips, one sheet per load. A pack of 32 charges is equivalent to a plastic canister. Therefore, one billion plastic canisters could be taken out of circulation if the world’s population switches to Eco-Strips.

Eco-Strips eliminate the need for water during production and are ultra-lightweight as they do not contain water either. As a result, transportation related emissions are reduced by 94% compared to today’s leading brand detergents! According to the company’s estimates, if the entire world used its laundry strips, the CO2 reduction would be equivalent to taking 27 million cars off the road for one day.

As a bonus, the product also takes up much less valuable storage space! For example, you can fit over 400 loads of Eco-Strips in the same space as a plastic jug of 100 loads of traditional detergent.

Plus, there’s no mess thanks to its user-friendly nature: just throw a sheet in the washer, and away you go; no liquid or powder spills to pick up.

Eco-Strips are hypoallergenic, phosphate-free, paraben-free, and free of chlorine bleach, added dyes, and 1,4-dioxane; thus, making them very gentle on sensitive skin. Plus, they’re vegan; which means, no animal testing and no animal-derived ingredients.

And Tru Earth isn’t the only company looking to replace liquid detergent! Frey also developed waterless, zero waste, vegan laundry sheets so you can do your laundry guilt-free.

The thick plastic containers that traditional detergents come in are particularly problematic because everyone has to buy the soap regularly, so the bottles are piling up in a landfill. That’s why new solutions like Eco-Strips and Frey plates are a blessing for the planet. Frey sheets are also dissolvable and work the same way as Eco-Strips.

How you keep your clothes clean is as important as the act itself. Frey Laundry Detergent Sheets are made from a biodegradable, plant-derived material. Just mix it with a filler and it dissolves in the wash, delivering the same cleaning power as its non-durable liquid or powder counterpart.

Frey co-founder Aidan Porter explained in a Press release:

Most liquid laundry detergents come in pitchers with a 4:1 water to soap ratio. It wastes more than water – it’s unnecessary plastic, shipping emissions and money straight into consumers’ pockets.

Frey co-founder Leif Frey added:

To combat these issues, we have worked with our partners to develop technology to compress materials into a detergent format, completely eliminating the need for water and plastic.

For extra incentive, Frey promises to plant a tree for every order you place.

Moving from washing clothes to washing your body, a new personal care brand named More has developed zero waste dehydrated shower gel sheets, presented in a biodegradable packaging that dissolves in the shower.

Like liquid laundry detergent, body wash is made mostly of water and contained in plastic bottles. No more ! It comes in the form of credit card sized sheets, each individually wrapped in a sachet made from wood pulp from Forest Stewardship Council certified forests and printed with water-based soluble ink. of water. When wet, the sheet turns into a dense foam and the wrapper disappears down the drain. Sachets are packaged for transport in a bio-based compostable zip pouch and envelope.

Additionally, co-founder and CEO Cathryn Woodruff said in a Press release:

The idea of ​​a 100% dissolvable wrap – that you jump in the shower with something and it disappears by the time you’ve finished cleaning yourself – was something that we believe has the potential to entice people to make a better choice in the shower. .

The eco-friendly company says its body wash produces 80% less carbon emissions during shipping and uses 38% less water than liquid body wash that comes in plastic bottles. plastic. In addition, it offsets more than 100% of its emissions by supporting reforestation projects through a partnership with the Pachama carbon capture project.

And if all the benefits of durability don’t do it for you, maybe convenience will. Since Plus Sheets are self-contained, it’s the perfect hassle-free product when you need to take soap with you on the go; it’s the lightweight solution for hitting the gym or traveling.