Do Laundry Detergent Sheets Work?
CR tested liquidless detergent strips from Earth Breeze, ECOS, Ecowise, Kind, Sheets Laundry Club, and True Earth to see if the clean matches the green
By Keith Flamer
Every time we do laundry, we’re dumping chemicals, microfibers, and gallons of water down the drain. That’s not counting the plastic detergent-bottle kettlebells we struggle to lift off shelves.
So it’s not surprising that consumers are rethinking their use of liquid laundry detergents and going in search of alternatives that will save water, energy, waste, and stress on Mother Earth.
The latest green "solution" is laundry sheets—liquidless detergents designed as eco-friendly alternatives to chemical-laden bottle detergents that pollute our streams, landfills, and at times, even our clothes. Laundry sheets also eliminate the need for all those plastic bottles.
“They generally use cardboard packaging, and because they are concentrated and without water, the package can be small,” says Rich Handel, Consumer Reports’ laundry expert. “This leaves less of an environmental footprint than the plastic jugs that liquid detergent and plastic containers pods or packs come in.”
That’s no small benefit. According to the most recent EPA data, 14.5 million tons of plastic containers and packaging were generated in 2018, making up 5 percent of municipal solid waste.
So laundry sheets can lighten the load on our recycling bin and on the environment. But do they clean your clothes as well as liquid detergents, pods, or packs?
What Are Laundry Detergent Sheets?
You may know them by different names—laundry sheets, detergent strips, detergent squares, etc. They’re essentially the same thing—plastic-free sheets of concentrated laundry detergent whose ingredients are held together by a resin and dissolvable paper. They’re low-sudsing and dissolve in cold or hot water. And they’ll save space in your laundry room cabinet.
Detergent strips have earth-friendly names and usually come in compostable packaging. Most claim to be hypoallergenic—free of parabens, phosphates, bleaches, and dyes. You may not see them among those brightly colored bottles in your laundry aisle, but they are widely available online, some by subscription.
“Laundry sheets are still a relatively new category but interest in sustainability, environment, and biodegradable products are on the rise,” says Cesar Carroll, CR market analyst. “Consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials, are seeking alternatives that are more natural and produce less waste. Therefore brands are looking to fill this void.”
Do Laundry Sheets Save You Money?
Laundry sheets work with all types of washers, including high-efficiency machines. Per medium-sized load, their cost is in line with liquid detergents, pods and packs. You can find these strips in boxes costing $15 to $20 that will launder 30 to 60 loads.
And making the switch from liquids to strips will cut down on detergent overdosing—a common consumer mistake. (Our detergent tests consistently find you only need about 1.5 ounces of liquid detergent per average load.)
Do Laundry Detergent Sheets Actually Work?
CR has long tested and rated liquid detergents, pods and packs. So our test engineers recently put laundry sheets from six brands—Earth Breeze, ECOS, Ecowise, Kind, Sheets Laundry Club, and True Earth—to the test.
To test detergents, our engineers launder fabric swatches that are saturated with blood, body oil, chocolate, coffee, dirt, grass and salad dressing. We use stains that are exceedingly hard to remove so that we can detect real differences among products. We wash using the normal cycle, cold water, high spin, and heavy soil setting.
Even the best detergents can’t remove every stain completely. But laundry sheets as a group didn’t perform well—netting scores that range from Fair to Poor overall.
“In fact, they had lower performance as a group than our lowest-performing liquid or pod/packs detergents,” says Handel. And only one brand of laundry sheet rates above Fair for cleaning any stain (Earth Breeze Liquidless Eco Sheets earns a Good rating when it comes to cleaning dirt).
In comparison, the top-scoring liquid detergent in our ratings—Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release—rates 84 overall, with Excellent scores for cleaning a variety of stains, including body oil, dirt and salad dressing. The top pod/pack in our tests, Tide Power-Pods Heavy Duty 10X, scores a 75. By contrast, Earth Breeze, the top-rated laundry strip brand, scored a 29. Tru Earth Eco Strips, the lowest-rated laundry sheets, scored an abysmal 11 overall.
We also found the laundry sheets we tested are especially ineffective at cleaning coffee stains—all rated Poor. If you start your day with a cup of joe, you may want to skip these strips in favor of a liquid such as Tide Eco-Box Original, the highest-rated detergent for these tough stains (rating Very Good).
Should You Try Laundry Detergent Sheets?
If you’re organizing your home around a sustainable lifestyle, laundry sheets may be a viable option if your laundry isn’t heavily soiled. But based on our tests, even if these detergent strips get an eco green light, they get a red light for stain removal.
With this in mind, you could use the strips for routine loads, and save the traditional liquid or pod detergent for deeper cleaning—using a minimal amount per load and increasing the dose only for dirtier items.
"That’s sufficient in most cases to clean laundry," says Handel. "Eco-conscious consumers may also choose Tide Eco-Box Original. It comes in a box with a plastic bladder, and Tide claims it uses 60 percent less plastic." Handel also says he notices a slight eco-friendly shift in pod/pack detergent packaging.
If your concern is harsh chemicals, an option is Sensitive Home’s laundry detergent for sensitive skin, which gets the EPA’s "Safer Choice" distinction. It claims to be 96 percent plant-based, hypoallergenic, and free of dyes, fragrances, parabens, and other scary-sounding chemicals. CR hasn’t tested this brand.
"It’s usually recommended for anyone with sensitive skin to avoid cleaning products containing SLS [sulfates]," says Tunde Akinleye, a CR chemist. "Alternatives include cleaning products that are sulfate-free or use non-ionic surfactants like alkyl ethoxylate or fatty acid ethoxylate."
Sulfates are anionic surfactants used in cleaning products to effectively break up stains. Deemed safe for household products, they’re a known irritant that can cause itching or rashes in people with sensitive skin.
Until laundry sheets up their game, eco-conscious consumers will have to continue to nudge the laundry industry to address environmental concerns with better packaging and more effective eco-friendly detergent formulas. Until then, it’ll require some patience and ingenuity because, for now, laundry sheets are a bit of a washout.
How Do Laundry Sheets Compare With Other Detergents?
How do laundry liquids, packs and sheets stack up? Below is a comparison of three top-scoring detergents by category from our tests. For a rundown of more options we recommend—as well as some that bomb in the laundry lab—see the best and worst laundry detergents from CR’s tests.
Liquid Detergent
Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release
CR’s take: The top-rated liquid detergent, Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release, lives up to its name as a very effective stain cleaner. Our tests give it an Excellent rating for cleaning body oils, dirt, chocolate, and salad dressing; Very Good for grass stains; and Good at removing coffee stains. It also gets a Very Good score in hard water conditions and an Excellent as a pre-treater for extra-tough stains.
Pods/Packs Detergent
Tide Tide Plus Hygienic Clean 10X Heavy Duty Power Pods Free/Nature
CR’s take: Tide Power-Pods Heavy Duty 10X detergent lives up to its superhero moniker as the top-rated pods/packs we tested. Body oil, salad dressing, and chocolate stains are little match for this detergent because it aces all three, rating Excellent. It also earns a Very Good rating for dirt, grass, and hard water conditions. However, at 67 cents per load, this is the most expensive detergent in our ratings. So you’re paying for detergent performance and convenience (single load toss-and-wash pods are easy to use). But buyer beware: There’s another potential cost—safety. Concentrated liquid detergent packets should be avoided in homes with children under 6 years old or adults who are cognitively impaired. Contact with or ingestion of the packet’s liquid contents may pose a risk of serious injury or death.
Laundry Detergent Sheets
Earth Breeze Liquidless Eco Sheets
CR’s Take: Earth Breeze Liquidless Eco Sheets are the top-rated detergent strips in our ratings, but don’t be misled. These sheets are green but they underwhelm on the clean, scoring only Fair marks for removing body oils, salad dressing, chocolate, and grass. And you’ll want to avoid blood and coffee stains at all costs because these sheets aren’t at all effective at removing them. They do earn a Good rating for removing dirt, but with inconsistent results, meaning you may need to inspect your clothes after each wash.
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