Plastic Free Laundry Detergent Guide – 2020 Update

Let's start with the Encyclopaedia Britannica:

"Ethylene (H₂C=CH₂), the simplest of the organic compounds known as alkenes, which contain carbon-carbon double bonds. It is a colourless, flammable gas having a sweet taste and odour. Natural sources of ethylene include both natural gas and petroleum; it is also a naturally occurring hormone in plants, in which it inhibits growth and promotes leaf fall, and in fruits, in which it promotes ripening."

"Ethylene," Encyclopedia Britannica, written by Francis A. Carey
Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Accessed 7/22/2020.

"Ethylene is produced by several methods in the petrochemical industry... Although of great value industrially, ethylene is rarely synthesized in the laboratory."

"Ethylene," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/22/2020.

While in ethylene is a "natural" chemical and theoretically could be derived from plants, right now it is not.

Why do we care about ethylene? After all, "ethylene" isn't listed as an ingredient in any of the products. It matters because ethylene is often used in the production of the ingredients that are listed. Even some of the ones described as "plant based" and "plant derived."

Ethylene and other petrochemicals and fossil fuel byproducts are sneaky!! Often ethylene is partially tucked away and hidden in the names of the ingredients. Sometimes all we see is "eth." Like, "ethoxylated," and "laureth."

Until ethylene is produced entirely from renewable sources, all of its derivative ingredients cannot be considered truly sustainable.

The following sections explore in more detail some of the ways ethylene and other petrochemicals are used in the production of some of these laundry products.

Polyvinyl alcohol, sometimes listed as polyvinyl alcohol film and abbreviated as PVA or PVOH, is the water soluble material used used in the outer layer in all the "pods" and also as the supporting structure in all the "sheets."

When I took a closer look at this ingredient, I started with the Dropps website's explanation:

"PVOH is made via a two-stage reaction process. The process starts with the basic starting molecule, called vinyl acetate, comprised of 3 simple atoms (carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.) In the first reaction step, vinyl acetate is reacted with itself at high temperature and pressure so that it polymerizes to form polyvinyl acetate...

[It] goes through one more process (hydrolysis) where it is reacted with water to create the PVOH we use for the water-soluble membrane on our pods."

"The Science Behind PVOH," by Dropps. Accessed 7/22/2020.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica,

"Vinyl acetate (CH₂=CHO₂CCH₃) is prepared from ethylene by reaction with oxygen and acetic acid over a palladium catalyst."

"Polyvinvyl acetate," Encyclopaedia Britannica, WRITTEN BY The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Accessed 7/22/2020

Put most simply, it all starts with ethylene:

1. ethylene + oxygen + acetic acid + palladium -> vinyl acetate
2. vinyl acetate + vinyl acetate + heat -> polyvinyl acetate
3. polyvinyl acetate + hydrolysis -> polyvinyl alcohol film

Honestly, this is a huge disappointment for me. It's great that the final product is considered biodegradable, but given the choice, I'd rather opt for an ingredient that doesn't require petrochemicals for its production. And until the manufacturers PROVE that their ethylene is sustainably produced, we have to assume it isn't.

The following products contain PVA/PVOH:

• Dropps Sensitive Skin Laundry Detergent Pod
• Dropps Laundry Oxi Booster Pod
• Earth Breeze Laundry Sheets
• EC30 (P&G) Laundry Swatches
• Sheets Laundry Detergent Sheets
• TruEarth Eco-Strips Laundry Detergent
• Truman's Get a Load of This Laundry Bars

The following products are PVA/PVOH free:

• Arm & Hammer Powder Laundry Detergent - Free of Perfumes & Dyes
• Biokleen Laundry Powder - Free & Clear
• Blueland Laundry Tablets
• Ingredients Matter Laundry Soap Powder (though do note that the packaging for this product most likely DOES have PVA)
• Meliora Laundry Powder
• Meliora Oxygen Brightener (booster only)
• Nellie's Laundry Soda
• Nellie's Oxygen Brightener (booster only)
• Seventh Generation Free & Clear Powder Laundry Detergent

Sadly even sodium percarbonate and TAED (those super important ingredients for getting a hygienic clean) are ethylene based. Also, the "B" in NOBS (the original bleach activator) stands for benzene, another petrochemical.

Sodium percarbonate = sodium carbonate + hydrogen peroxide

Today, hydrogen peroxide is manufactured almost exclusively by the anthraquinone process, which was formalized in 1936 and patented in 1939. It begins with the reduction of an anthraquinone (such as 2-ethylanthraquinone or the 2-amyl derivative) to the corresponding anthrahydroquinone.

"Hydrogen peroxide," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/23/2020.

If you want to read more about the anthraquinone process, I recommend reading "The Manufacture of Hydrogen Peroxide" published by the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry. Anthraquinone can itself be produced in a few ways, all of which ultimately begin with benzene and/or ethylene, both of which are petrochemicals.

A commercially viable process to produce hydrogen peroxide directly from the environment has been of interest for many years... None of these [systems] has yet reached a point where they can be used for industrial-scale synthesis.

"Hydrogen peroxide," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/23/2020.

Essentially, at this time, sodium percarbonate ultimately originates from a petrochemical.

Hydrogen peroxide is problematic for the "oxide" category of ingredients, which are noted on the Ingredients Matter webpage as well. Lauryldimethylamine oxide (for disclosure, an ingredient of TruEarth Laundry Strips) is good example. We'll focus on the last bit of the name, "amine oxide."

Almost all amine oxides are prepared by the oxidation of either tertiary aliphatic amines or aromatic N-heterocycles. Hydrogen peroxide is the most common reagent both industrially and in academia.

"Amine oxide," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/27/2020.

You can't make hydrogen peroxide with ethylene or benzene, and you can't make the -amine oxide without hydrogen peroxide.

The bleach activator TAED is another ethylene-based ingredient.

Tetraacetylethylenediamine, commonly abbreviated as TAED, is an organic compound with the formula (CH₃C(O))₂NCH₂CH₂N(C(O)CH₃)₂. This white solid is commonly used as a bleach activator in laundry detergents and for paper pulp. It is produced by acetylation of ethylenediamine.

"Tetraacetylethylenediamine," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/23/2020.

To summarize TAED production:

1. ethylene + chlorine gas -> 1,2-dichloroethane
2. 1,2-dichloroethane + ammonia + pressure -> ethylenediamine
3. ethylenediamine + acetyl group -> tetraacetylethylenediamine

For a list of which products contain AOBs and activators, see the "Actual Cleaning Power" tab, subsection Presence in Plastic Free Detergents.

Before I really understood about ethylene, I was trying to dig into some of the ingredients a little deeper, and by chance I picked an ingredient from Dropps: Polyethylene Glycol Monododecyl Ether.

Knowing what I know now, it's totally obvious that this a problematic ingredient because it actually has "ethylene" tucked in the name! But it's still a good example of my exploration and research process.

So let's step back to a time when I was more innocent, and, not knowing much of anything, clicked the "see more" link on Dropps' ingredients webpage. It brought me to the EPA's "Safer Ingredients" site, listing of dodecyl alcohol, ethoxylated (CAS #9002-92-0).

[ Just an aside about the EPA's "safer ingredients" - in general this is a good thing! But you have to keep in mind that the EPA is rating the ingredients based on their toxicity, not whether or not the ingredients are sustainably produced.]

"Dodecanol, or lauryl alcohol, is an organic compound produced industrially from palm kernel oil or coconut oil. It is a fatty alcohol. Sulfate esters of lauryl alcohol, especially sodium lauryl sulfate, are very widely used as surfactants. Sodium lauryl sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate, and sodium laureth sulfate are all used in shampoos."

"Dodecanol," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/23/2020.

Basically, dodecanol is a compound from coconut oil. So far, so good. It's a plant, so technically ingredients made from it are "plant derived." But it's only half the picture. The problem is with "ethoxylated." According to SafeCosmetics.org,

"Ethoxylation is the process of reacting ethylene oxide with other chemicals to make them less harsh...

WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON THE LABEL: PPG, PEG, polysorbate and ingredients that end in –eth such as laureth, steareth, ceteareth...

WHAT ARE ETHOXYLATED INGREDIENTS? Ethoxylated ingredients on their own are of low concern, however, the process of ethoxylation, may leave behind trace amounts of carcinogens."

"Ethoxylated Ingredients," SafeCosmetics.org. Accessed 7/23/2020.

This means that Polyethylene Glycol Monododecyl Ether = dodecanol + ethylene oxide. The ingredient does come partly from a plant, but also partly from petrochemicals.

AND, to add insult to injury here, upon further investigation, I learned that Polyethylene Glycol Monododecyl Ether is essentially just a longwinded, sneaky synonym for sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), an ingredient the EWG rates a C because of its aquatic toxicity! (They're both ethoxylated dodecyl alcohol).

Other ethoxylated alcohols are common detergent ingredients, too.

Another example of a tricky ingredient is cocamidopropyl betaine, described by TruEarth as a "coconut oil based, biodegradable amphoteric surfactant (cleaning agent) and foam booster."

"Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) is a mixture of closely related organic compounds derived from coconut oil and dimethylaminopropylamine [DMAPA]."

"Cocamidopropyl betaine," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/23/2020.

Coconut oil seems pretty innocent and self explanatory, but a little more digging tells us that,

"DMAPA is commonly produced commercially via the reaction between dimethylamine and acrylonitrile."

"Dimethylaminopropylamine," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/23/2020.

and,

"Acrylonitrile is produced by catalytic ammoxidation of propylene,"

"Acrylonitrile," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/23/2020.

and finally,

"Propene, also known as propylene or methyl ethylene..."

"Propene," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/23/2020.

And there it is - ethylene again! In summary:

1. methyl ethylene + ammoxidation -> acrylonitrile
2. acrylonitrile + dimethylamine -> dimethylaminopropylamine (DMAPA)
3. DMAPA + coconut oil -> cocamidopropyl betaine

Once again, "coconut based" is only half the story. The other half is a chemical made from a petrochemical, even though we don't have any direct clues in the product name.

Looking at the components of cocamidopropyl betaine leads nicely into a discussion of methanol.

We looked at half of DMAPA (acrylonitrile) but not the other half, dimethylamine. Let's go ahead and break it down, too:

"The molecule consists of a nitrogen atom with two methyl  substituents and one proton.

"Dimethylamine," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

Further,

"A methyl group is an alkyl derived from methane."

"Methyl group," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

If you follow the climate crisis at all, you're probably familiar with methane as a greenhouse gas. According to the Environmental Defense Fund,

"Methane is the primary component of natural gas - a common fuel source... Methane can come from many sources, both natural and manmade. The largest source of manmade emissions is the oil and gas industry."

"Methane: The other important greenhouse gas," EDF.org. Accessed 7/29/2020.

In sum, methane is another petrochemical.

Where else does methane turn up? For one, dimethylamine should already sound familiar; it's part of "lauryldimethylamine oxide," discussed in the "Ethylene, Benzene and Hydrogen Peroxide, Oxides, and Bleach Activators" subsection.

As for other places, pretty much anywhere you see "methyl" or even just "meth," you can probably trace the roots back to methane. For example, let's take an ingredient from Seventh Generation, sodium carboxymethyl inulin. SG describes it as a "plant-based soil dispersant."

It looks like inulin is the "plant based" part of this ingredient:

"Inulins are a group of naturally occurring polysaccharides produced by many types of plants,^[1] industrially most often extracted from chicory.^[2] The inulins belong to a class of dietary fibers known as fructans...

Chicory root is the main source of extraction for commercial production of inulin. The extraction process for inulin is similar to obtaining sugar from sugar beets.^[5] After harvest, the chicory roots are sliced and washed, then soaked in a solvent; the inulin is then isolated, purified, and spray dried."

"Inulin," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

What about "sodium carboxymethyl"?

"Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) or cellulose gum^[1] is a cellulose derivative with carboxymethyl groups (-CH₂-COOH) bound to some of the hydroxyl groups of the glucopyranose monomers that make up the cellulose backbone. It is often used as its sodium salt, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose...

It is synthesized by the alkali-catalyzed reaction of cellulose with chloroacetic acid."

"Carboxymethyl cellulose," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

Let's keep peeling back the layers.

"Chloroacetic acid is prepared industrially via two routes. The predominant method involves chlorination of acetic acid, with acetic anhydride as a catalyst... The second method entails hydrolysis of trichloroethylene.

"Chloroacetic acid," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

Okay, so the second method clearly takes us to ethylene, the other common pretrochemical, but what about the first method, with acetic acid?

"Acetic acid is the second simplest carboxylic acid (after formic acid). It consists of a methyl group attached to a carboxyl group."

"Acetic acid," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

And we're right back to methyl groups. Which, as we learned earlier, come from methane.

To summarize:

• methane -> methyl group
• methyl group + carboxyl group -> acetic acid
• acetic acid + chlorine -> chloroacetic acid
• chloroacetic acid + cellulose -> sodium carboxymethyl cellulose
• sodium carboxymethyl cellulose + inulin -> sodium carboxymethyl inulin

One of the haziest categories of problematic ingredients for me to understand is glucosides, and the potential use of methanol in their production. Examples of "green" glucosides include lauryl glucoside, also known as dodecyl glucoside, (in Truman's and Blueland) and caprylyl glucoside (in TruEarth).

"The name [glucoside] was originally given to plant products of this nature... It has now been extended to include synthetic ethers, such as those obtained by acting on alcoholic glucose solutions with hydrochloric acid.

A better method of preparation is to dissolve solid anhydrous glucose in methanol containing hydrochloric acid. A mixture of alpha- and beta-methylglucoside results."

"Glucoside," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/22/2020.

The problem with this explanation, however, is two fold. First, the explanation comes almost directly from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on glucosides. That's pretty dated, so I can't rule out the possibility that there is a different modern method of production that doesn't use methanol.

Secondly, even methanol itself may not be entirely problematic. The Methanol Institute (perhaps not a completely unbiased source) explains,

"Methanol is produced in a number of different ways, but the primary method is through the synthesis of natural gas...

Methanol also can be produced from non-petroleum feedstocks such as landfill methane gas, municipal solid wastes, biomass, sawdust or even marine seaweed, potentially reducing our dependence on petroleum imports. These renewable feedstocks make methanol a virtually unlimited resource."

"Methanol Facts," Methanol.org. Accessed 7/29/2020.

This information shows that methanol, and even methane, aren't necessarily always petroleum industry chemicals. They can be by products of other (problematic) industries as well.

That said, even if methane/methanol can come from other sources, I don't see any proof that it actually has done so in the production of these ingredients. Absent that proof, I don't consider these potentially methane-based ingredients to be sustainable.

Sulfur is a common element, well known for its "rotten eggs" odor.

"Today, almost all elemental sulfur is produced as a byproduct of removing sulfur-containing contaminants from natural gas and petroleum...

Many surfactants and detergents (e.g. sodium lauryl sulfate) are sulfate derivatives."

"Sulfur," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

Yep, just another fossil fuel industry byproduct making its way into laundry detergent ingredients. Even the coconut oil derived ones.

Sodium coco sulfate (SCS), sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) are all derived from dodecyl alcohol, which we covered earlier. As a reminder, it's the fatty alcohol that can come from coconut oil, palm oil, or can be derived synthetically from ethylene via the Ziegler process. What's the difference between them?

Sodium laureth sulfate is the easiest to distinguish. The clue is in its name: "eth." There's clues in its synonyms too: "sodium polyoxyethylene lauryl ether sulfate." To create SLES, first the dodecyl alcohol is ethoxylated (a process described earlier in the "More Ethylene Based Ingredients" subsection). Then,

"The resulting ethoxylate is converted to a half ester of sulfuric acid, which is neutralized by conversion to the sodium salt.^[1] The related surfactant sodium lauryl sulfate (also known as sodium dodecyl sulfate or SDS) is produced similarly, but without the ethoxylation step."

"Sodium Laureth Sulfate," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

SLES includes an ethoxylation step, while the others do not.

The distinction between SLS and SCS is a bit hazier. In fact, both are listed as synonyms for sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and share the same CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) Number.

"SDS is synthesized by treating lauryl alcohol [dodecyl alcohol] with sulfur trioxide gas, oleum, or chlorosulfuric acid to produce hydrogen lauryl sulfate.^[5] The resulting product is then neutralized through the addition of sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate."

"Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

Essentially:

• dodecyl alcohol + some form of sulfur -> hydrogen lauryl sulfate
• hydrogen lauryl sulfate + sodium hydroxide OR sodium carbonate -> SDS/SLS/SCS

As for the minor distinctions, "lauryl" and "dodecyl" are interchangeable terms in chemistry, so SDS and SLS are two names for the exact same thing. The difference between SDS/SLS and SCS is the purity of the dodecyl/lauryl alcohol.

"Lauryl [dodecyl] alcohol can be used in pure form or may be derived from either coconut or palm kernel oil by hydrolysis (which liberates their fatty acids), followed by hydrogenation.^{[citation needed]} When produced from these sources, commercial samples of these "SDS" products are actually not pure SDS, rather a mixture of various sodium alkyl sulfates with SDS being the main component.^[6] For instance, SDS is a component, along with other chain-length amphiphiles, when produced from coconut oil, and is known as sodium coco sulfate (SCS).

"Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate," Wikipedia. Accessed 7/29/2020.

When the dodecyl alcohol is pure, the reaction with sulfur leads to pure SDS/SLS. When the lauryl alcohol is not pure, like when it is derived coconut oil, there are other fatty alcohols in the mix. The reaction with sulfur leads to SDS/SLS plus small amounts of the other sulfates from the other fatty acids. Which are collectively called sodium coco sulfate.

Seventh Generation actually has a pretty good explanation of the resulting differences between SCS and SLS.

"SLS and SCS are very similar ingredients. Both SLS and SCS contain the same sodium and the same sulfate - where they differ is SLS has a slightly shorter chemical chain length than SCS. What does that mean? Think of it like a chain of box cars on a train. SLS would be a train with 12 box cars, followed by an additional train with 14 box cars. SCS would have the same, a 12 box car train, followed by the 14 box car train just like SLS, but then an additional 16 car train follows. Therefore, SCS contains SLS within it, and then a little more."

"What Is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, And Why Do We Use It?" Seventh Generation. Accessed 7/29/2020.

In the end, though, regardless of the distinctions between SDS, SCS, and even SLES, they all contain sulfur. So even assuming that the dodecyl alcohol is actually plant derived, that's only half the story. And once again, the other half includes a petrochemical industry byproduct, making it hard to consider these ingredients "sustainable."

"Plant based" or "plant derived" simply isn't a good enough standard for determining whether an ingredient is sustainable.

The burden of proof is on the manufacturers to demonstrate that either:

• petrochemicals and other fossil fuel industry byproducts are not used in any stage of the production of the ingredients in their products, or
• potential petrochemicals (like ethylene and methane) that are used are sourced from non-petrochemical alternatives.

As demonstrated repeatedly, saying "derived from" is generally only the half the story. Consumers are owed more detailed explanations so we can make truly informed decisions.

In my book, if a petrochemical or other fossil fuel industry byproduct is used to produce an ingredient, then I do not consider that ingredient to be sustainable.

The more unsustainable ingredients a product has, the less sustainable I consider the product to be.

I was not able to research the production of every ingredient in the ingredients lists in the comparison chart. There were just too many for one person to tackle. Instead, I combed through the ingredients lists looking for:

• ingredients I know are produced with petrochemicals like ethylene, methanol, and sulfur based on the research outlined above, and
• ingredients with petrochemical red flags, like "eth," "meth," and "sulf."

Those ingredients are listed in a separate column titled "Petrochemical Based Ingredients." Please keep in mind, this is may not be a complete list. The names can be pretty misleading, so there may be some petrochemical/fossil fuel based ingredients that I missed.

There is also the risk that a listed ingredient is in fact NOT petrochemical based even though it's listed in that column. For example, a glucoside is produced with methanol, but maybe that methanol comes from a landfill rather than the oil and natural gas industry. In that case, it wouldn't really be petrochemical based. I included them on the list anyway because I did not see any proof to the contrary from any of the detergent ingredient manufacturers. Guilty until proven innocent.

Only 3 products had no petrochemical based ingredients:

• Ingredients Matter Laundry Soap Powder
• Meliora Laundry Powder
• The Simply Co. Laundry Detergent

The following products had up to 2 petrochemical based ingredients:

• Biokleen Laundry Powder - Free & Clear
• Blueland Laundry Tablets
• Meliora Oxygen Brightener
• Nellie's Laundry Soda
• Nellie's Oxygen Brightener
• Seventh Generation Free & Clear Powder Laundry Detergent
• Sheets Laundry Club Laundry Detergent Sheets - Free and Clear (although do note that their ingredients list was vague)

The following products had more than 2 petrochemical based ingredients:

• Arm & Hammer Powder Laundry Detergent - Free of Perfume and Dyes
• Dropps Sensitive Skin Laundry Detergent Pod
• Dropps Laundry Oxi Booster, Unscented
• Earth Breeze Laundry Sheets
• P&G EC30 Laundry Swatches
• P&G Tide Powder Laundry Detergent
• Seventh Generation Zero Plastic Laundry Tablets
• TruEarth Eco-Strips Laundry Detergent
• Truman's Get a Load of This Laundry Bars

It's a lot easier to find information about the effects of ingredients on human health and the environment than it is to find information on how the ingredients are produced.

There are a few resources I look to:

• the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Guide to Cosmetics and Guide to Healthy Cleaning
• the Environmental Protection Agency's Safer Chemical Ingredients List
• The National Library of Medicine's PubChem Database
• Safety Data Sheets standardized by the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals

The EWG Skin Deep Guide to Cosmetics database is a great place to look up individual ingredients. They:

• score the ingredient on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the best, 10 being the worst) to reflect "known and suspected hazards," ("Frequently Asked Questions," EWG.org. Accessed 7/28/2020.)
• provide a data availability score which "reflects how much scientists know – or don’t know – about an ingredient’s safety," ("Frequently Asked Questions," EWG.org. Accessed 7/28/2020.)
• list the functions of the ingredient,
• provide a list of synonyms, which can provide important clues about how the ingredient is made, and
• provide details about known toxicity and effects on the environment.

The EWG's Guide to Healthy Cleaning database is a great place to look up cleaning products. They score the products on an A to F scale (A being the best, F being the worst), based on the scores (also A to F) of the ingredients in the products. They also list:

• list the ingredients,
• the ingredient scores,
• the areas of concern for low scoring ingredients, and
• whether or not the product is "green certified."

If you're interested in learning more about their scoring system and methodology, check out About EWG's Guide to Healthy Cleaning.

The Safer Chemical Ingredients List is part of the EPA's Safer Choice program.

"Before a product can carry the Safer Choice label, EPA reviews all chemical ingredients, regardless of their percentage in the product. Every ingredient must meet strict safety criteria for both human health and the environment, including carcinogenicity, reproductive/developmental toxicity, toxicity to aquatic life, and persistence in the environment."

"What does the Safer Choice label mean?" EPA.gov. Accessed 7/29/2020.

The PubChem database is a great place to look up individual ingredients.

"PubChem records are contributed by hundreds of data sources. Examples include: government agencies, chemical vendors, journal publishers, and more."

"About PubChem," PubChem Docs. Accessed 7/29/2020.

A chemical's entry includes lots on information, like the structure, synonyms, chemical safety, and toxicity.

Safety Data Sheets (SDSs), formerly known as Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), include

"information such as the properties of each chemical; the physical, health, and environmental health hazards; protective measures; and safety precautions for handling, storing, and transporting the chemical."

"Hazard Communication Standard: Safety Data Sheets," OSHA.gov. Accessed 7/29/2020.

Unfortunately there is no easily searchable, free, central, government run database for SDSs because they are created by the individual manufacturers. For example, the SDS for Tide Laundry Powder, or the SDS for EC30 Laundry Swatches, are both produced by P&G. They're still a good place to start examining ingredients and possible harm to human health.

I did not comb through each and every ingredient in each and every product to research toxicity. For one thing, there were just too many for one person to tackle in a reasonable time. For another, sometimes there just isn't enough information about an ingredient or product on the web to find any meaningful information.

What is included?

First, for each product there is a complete list of ingredients, according the manufacturers. If you feel so inclined, this list will make it easy for you to research every ingredient and make a judgement for yourself about its human and environmental safety.

I also list the EWG product rating and whether or not the product had any safety or green certifications, like the EPA Safer Choice designation. Unfortunately not every product had an EWG rating. For products without a rating, I looked up the individual ingredients. If I could find it in the EWG database, I included the rating in parentheses next to the ingredient in the ingredients list.

Here are the products ranked by EWG rating:

A:

• Biokleen Laundry Powder - Free & Clear
• Ingredients Matter Laundry Soap Powder, Fragrance Free
• Melioria Laundry Powder
• Seventh Generation Free & Clear Laundry Powder

B:

• Dropps Sensitive Skin Laundry Detergent Pod
• Dropps Laundry Oxi Booster Pod
• Nellie's Laundry Soda

D

• Arm & Hammer Powder Laundry Detergent - Free of Perfume and Dyes
• P&G Tide Laundry Powder

The following products were not rated by the EWG:

• Blueland Laundry Tablets
• Earth Breeze Laundry Sheets
• Meliora Oxygen Brightener
• Nellie's Oxygen Brightener
• P&G EC30 Laundry Swatches
• Seventh Generation Zero Plastic Laundry Tablets
• Sheets Laundry Club Laundry Detergent Sheets
• The Simply Co. Laundry Detergent
• TruEarth Eco-Strips Laundry Detergent
• Truman's Get a Load of This Laundry Bars