The Eco Friendly Laundry Challenge

Have you noticed how many more cleaning products are featuring “green” claims or promoting their “natural” qualities?  Buyer beware, products that call themselves “natural” doesn’t mean anything.  It’s not a regulated term so pay attention to the ingredients on the package, or better yet, the ingredients NOT included in a product.

I recently put three laundry detergents to the test to see how they stack up against each other.  All of which truly are green cleaners.  I tested Whole Foods 2x Concentrated Unscented detergent, Biokleen’s Free & Clear Unscented Laundry detergent and Method’s Free & Clear super concentrated detergent.

1. Whole Food’s 2x Concentrated Laundry Detergent 

• Good value at $14.99 at my local store for about 100 HE loads/100 fl oz. ($.14/load)
• No scent at all straight out of the bottle.  Liquid is clear and there is no smell on the clean clothes.
• Key highlights: No fragrance, no sodium laureth sulfate, no phosphates, phthalates or clorine.
• Bottle is made from 50% post consumer recycled materials
• Both clothes and cloth diapers came out clean.  Detergent rinsed out very well in the cloth diaper load.
• One con~ for HE machines like mine, you only need to use 1/3 cup for most loads. It’s easy to over pour with a full bottle and it’s difficult to judge the proper amount needed.

2. Biokleen Free & Clear Laundry Liquid

• This was my newest favorite detergent, it runs $8.25/bottle when you purchase a bulk pack of 6 from Amazon. Biokleen Free & Clear Laundry Liquid Allergen-fighting Formula, 64-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 6)
• Works great on both clothes and cloth diapers
• Allergen fighting formula
• Bottle is for 64 regular loads or 128 HE loads.  I have a HE washer so it’s an average of $.06/load.
• The lack of ingredients is most important here again: no phosphate, chlorine, ammonia, petroleum solvents, alcohol, butyl, glycol ether, SLS or SLES, EDTA, DEA.  No fragrance or dyes or preservatives.
• Liquid smells a little like a bottle of blowing bubbles, but doesn’t leave any smell on clothes.
• I find it works great as a stain treater as well, I tested it primarily on food stains on my 2 year old’s clothes.
• Product not readily available in most stores, but is available at my local Whole Foods

3. Method Laundry Detergent

• Loved their commitment to less outer packaging, one small bottle does 25 loads/10 fl oz. They do have a lot more internal packaging with the pump mechanism than the other two products.
• More expensive when at full price, at CVS it retails for $10.39, or $.41/load, making it the most expensive option
• Works fine on clothes, but did not get stains out of my cloth diaper load.  This is frustrating to have to rewash cloth diapers that take a long time to clean (2 cycles) to begin with.
• Package is made from 50% recycled plastic.
• It makes more sense to buy the larger 20 oz bottle for 50 loads at $14.99 on Amazon. Method Laundry Detergent Free + Clear- 50 Loads, 20 Ounce Bottle

Overall, I’m really happy with both Whole Foods and Biokleen’s laundry detergent.  I like that I can easily buy a store brand with Whole Foods since it’s a little harder to find Biokleen product in many stores. Plus, there is a $1 off coupon in the March/April flyer at Whole Foods for an even better value!

  As spring cleaning starts to get underway, what other green cleaners are you going to be using?

Disclosure: I was provided laundry detergent to review from Whole Foods.  It did not change my opinion in any way.  Links listed above are affiliate Amazon links.  


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