Zero Waste Laundry Detergent Strips

Doing laundry is (unfortunately) just part of all of our lives. I don't particularly like doing laundry and will wear my clothes over and over again until I really need to wash them. At times, my loving partner will have to remind me that it's time to wash something, when I crawl into bed with dirty pajamas! I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for your love life...

Washing my clothes also became a pain when I started thinking about what laundry detergent I was using. Even though I have always used a low fragrance and natural-ish laundry detergent, I hadn't always considered the packaging, manufacturing, shipping, and down stream water impacts of my laundry detergent.

Bulk powdered laundry detergent was my solution - but I had a really hard time finding it. Many stores still do not allow customers to bring in their own containers to refill and laundry detergent in bulk was like finding a needle in a hay stack.

After fighting my laundry routine for years, I was introduced to laundry detergent strips. And I'm not kidding, they changed everything!

This post is sponsored by Well Earth Goods. Opinions expressed in this article are my own and I never review products that I do not believe in!

The Problem with Liquid Detergents

Traditional laundry detergent, although effective at washing your clothes, has a pretty high environmental impact. It comes in a plastic bottle that in some places is recyclable, but in many others it isn't. Most of Texas, for example, doesn't have any curbside recycling programs at all!

It is also watered down! Buying liquid detergent costs you more money, because you are paying for the water they already added to the mix. It also weighs more. And for shipping, this ends up making it have a larger environmental footprint. The more something weighs, the more gasoline and diesel it takes to transport it.

Fun Fact: You can make your own laundry detergent!

It is also very possible to make your own laundry detergent! However, if following a recipe online, make sure you research it thoroughly beforehand because many recipes will end up leaving residue on your washer. You don't want to have to clean that off by hand! Instead, I prefer making laundry detergent out of horse chestnuts - yep! You read that right! It takes a little extra work though and some planning ahead of every wash. So if you don't want to do that, laundry strips are my favorite option to have on hand!

What are laundry detergent strips?

Laundry detergent strips are a dehydrated version of laundry detergent! Or at least that's how I think of it. It isn't a powder or a liquid. It's literally a strip, similar to a fruit roll up! A package of laundry detergent strips weighs about 98% less than liquid detergent (only a couple of ounces!). The reduction in weight dramatically cuts down the energy required to ship the strips to stores or to your house.

I love laundry strips for a variety of reasons!

• Super easy to use!

• Clean my clothes well!

• Scentless!

• Come in paper packaging!

• Made in Canada!

How do I use them?

When you're doing a load of laundry, you simply tear one of the strips off at the perforated lines and pop it in the washing machine! The strips are sized to tackle a large load in a standard washing machine. So if you're doing a tiny load, you can always rip the strip in half again! I have found though that it does extremely well in my high-efficiency washer no matter the size of the load. These strips are low-suds and absolutely safe to use in any kind of washing machine.

Where can I get them?

My favorite online shop based out of Oregon, Well Earth Goods, offers laundry detergent strips! They ship them completely plastic free in a little thick paper package and they even offer free shipping! If you're feeling stuck without any options to bulk detergent or not interested in making your own, these little strips are an amazing alternative!

What do you use to wash your clothes?

#laundry #cleaning #recommended #productreview