Dishwasher detergents with low environmental impact

Dishwasher detergents: do not contaminate more

The products, in addition to being effective, must be sustainable so that the environment is not harmed. Is it so? To find out, at OCU we analyze the environmental impact of hand and machine dishwashing detergents.

By hand or by machine, but without polluting the environment

We compared the efficacy and environmental impact of 36 dishwashing detergents, of which 16 were machine detergents and 20 were hand wash detergents. This study is part of the European CLEAN project, funded through the European Union's Consumer Program.

Three aspects that leave an environmental footprint

If you are concerned about the environment and want to know what impact you have with the dishwashing detergents you use on a daily basis, you should know that not all dishwashers are the same. We have analyzed them focusing on three aspects that leave their mark:

Green claims or environmental claims

We find cases that can confuse consumers. Sometimes it is about generalizations, such as indicating that the packaging is "recyclable" when in theory all of them are or when they say that they are sustainable without providing any certification. Saying that they do not contain phosphates when they have been banned for years is not an environmental claim that contributes anything either.

A good reference is, for example, a product that carries the ecolabel, an ecolabel backed by solid and verified evidence that guarantees that the detergent meets a series of environmental protection requirements at the different stages of its life cycle.

green is expensive

Dishwashers with very good environmental results have an average price per dose of 0.31 euros and, according to our analysis, this price is 50% more expensive than the cost of dishwashers with environmental results of less than five stars, which have an average price of 0.20 euros per dose.

Another curiosity to look at, products that have an "eco" appearance, that is, they seem, even if they are not because of their color, packaging or supposed environmental claims, are also more expensive! They cost 42% more than those without this appearance. And in the case of manual dishwashers, this difference can be more than double in practice if we take into account the number of dishes that can be washed with each one.

What are the "cleanest" detergents?

If you are looking for a machine dishwasher detergent, in our analysis you will find characteristics and results of the best detergents:

Compare and choose the best dishwasher detergent

Also remember that not all kitchen utensils are dishwasher safe and that sometimes there is no choice but to wash by hand. Check our comparator to find out which is the best.

Compare and choose the best dishwasher by hand

If you give priority to its lower environmental impact, we also help you choose your detergents: in our analysis we highlight some products such as "ECO Shopping", both by machine and by hand: this is the case of L'arbre vert Todo en 1 and Frosch. Find out more about them.

helping the environment

Many consumers want to make more ecological purchase decisions, but to do so in an informed and responsible manner, adequate, truthful and reliable information on the environmental impact of products is necessary. It is also necessary to have a sufficient offer of sustainable products at points of sale and that the price difference between a sustainable product and a conventional one is not so great.

If environmental claims are untrue or not supported by solid and verified scientific evidence, they automatically become misleading information for the consumer.

OCU knows that the consumer is committed to the environment, but needs to be facilitated in choosing the most sustainable products. In fact, effective and environmentally friendly dishwashing detergents already exist, now the consumer needs to be able to find them easily and know that they are reliable.