Washing dishes is not so bad—said no one ever. But with eco-friendly dishwasher tablets we can at least take some of the load off of ourselves while also taking a load off the planet.
Dishwashers, next to the wheel, are one of the greatest inventions, but unfortunately, conventional dishwasher detergents contain toxic ingredients like phosphates, synthetic dyes, and preservatives—not to mention the single-use plastic.
To come to your (rinse)aid, we’re scrubbing away the grime to find the most sustainable dishwasher tablets when we employ our new Brand Rating System here in coming months. This scrubs down to the base of brands by examining them across 22 criteria including climate action and how well they actually clean dishes. Learn about these here.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
An Express Cycle Through The Best Natural Dishwasher Tablets
We found Blueland’s PVA-free dishwasher tablets (the only ones, by the way!) to be an effective solution to cleaning some serious grime off our dinner plates. Plus, they come in either compostable paper refill packs or in a tin.
For pure plant-powered cleaning, Grove Collaborative’s contain a PVA-pouch but otherwise, they’re all natural, down to the natural essential oils fragrance.
Index: Eco Dishwasher Tablets
- Blueland Jump to brand
- Dropps Jump to brand
- EcoLeaf Jump to brand
- Grove Collaborative Jump to brand
- Puracy Jump to brand
- Ecozone Jump to brand
- VOYA Jump to brand
Blueland
Blueland’s Best Eco-Friendly Dishwasher Detergent Tablets
Price Range: $21–$45
Set your dishwashing routine free with Blueland—free of artificial fragrances, dyes, bleach, VOCs, ammonia, parabens, phthalates, petroleum, and plastic, that is.
You can start with the Dishwasher Starter Set, which comes with a tin to store your tablets. Or if you already have a glass jar just waiting for a use, skip straight to ordering the compostable paper refill packs as we did.
We weren’t surprised when we tested these vegan and cruelty-free tablets and found them an effective and worthy addition to our cleaning cabinet already lined with Blueland products. They’re super easy to use and leave dishes residue-free.
Their traditional powder dish soap falls into the category of refillable cleaning products, and the tablets are likewise a zero waste dishwasher detergent because they’re not contained in a PVA/PVOH wrap.
About Blueland
For this one-stop cleaning eco store, dishwasher tablets are just the start of their lineup, all of which are EPA Safer Choice, Leaping Bunny, Cradle to Cradle, and MADE SAFE certified. Because they’re all plastic-free, Blueland has replaced over 2 million plastic bottles.
They’re also a Certified B Corp, Climate Neutral certified, and give back through organizations like DIGDEEP and Lonely Whale, among others.
Dropps
Dropps’ Eco-Friendly Dishwasher Tablets
Price Range: $19
Dropps’ tablets are chlorine-free, phosphate-free, and phthalate-free, keeping it cleaner for the planet as well as your dishes. Available unscented or in a zingy lemon fragrance, the pods contain oxygen-based bleach and enzymes to get those dishes sparkly clean.
Each pod has a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) dissolvable membrane and the set comes in recyclable and compostable packaging.
About Dropps
Dropps entered the eco cleaning scene with their laundry detergent pods, though they’e now added eco-friendly fabric softeners and more to the mix.
In the name of transparency, full ingredient disclosures and safety data sheets are accessible on their website. Dropps offers carbon-neutral shipping and offsets emissions through Clearloop.
EcoLeaf
EcoLeaf’s Eco Dishwasher Tablets
Price Range: £6–£34
Take a leaf out of Ecoleaf’s book and opt for dish tablets that are naturally effective and gentle on the planet. They’re derived from sustainably sourced plant extracts and are free from parabens, phosphates, and synthetic fragrances.
They do contain RSPO certified palm oil and each tablet has a dissolvable PVA wrapper and comes in a recyclable (or compostable) cardboard box.
About Ecoleaf
Ecoleaf is owned by wholefood collective, Suma which offers a full range of plant-based products for conscious home cleaning. They’re registered with the Vegan Society, and certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny.
They not only offer refills for some products, but they partner with various zero waste shops in London and the UK to allow for refills, too. Any plastic packaging is recyclable.
Grove Collaborative
About Grove Collaborative’s Non-Toxic Dishwasher Tablets
Price Range: $10–$12
Grove Collaborative’s eco-friendly dishwasher tablets harness the power of plants to clean your dishes without polluting the planet. You won’t find harsh chemicals like parabens, phthalates, phosphates, formaldehyde, dyes, and chlorine bleach.
Two types of 91% plant-based and natural dishwasher tablets are available: Total Clean and Pure Power. Pure Power tablets offer an extra-strength clean which can remove 48 hour baked-on food. You can choose unscented or lemon and eucalyptus tablets, scented using 100% natural essential oils and plant extracts.
Grove also just switched to plastic-free dishwasher tablet packaging by trading bags for a new reusable tin.
About Grove Collaborative
Certified B Corp and USDA BioPreferred brand Grove Collaborative curates over 150 sustainable brands, including their own creations. They’re a one-stop shop for conscious cleaning products from zero waste hand soap to beauty products. All are 100% cruelty-free and use only RSPO-certified palm oil.
Every Grove purchase is also plastic neutral through rePurpose Global—but they’re working toward being plastic-free by 2025. Until then, they offer a plastic packaging recycling program. Shipping is carbon-neutral through support of reforestation projects.
Puracy
Puracy’s Eco-Friendly Dishwasher Tablets
Price Range: $15–$20
Puracy’s natural dishwasher tablets were developed by a chemist with over twenty years of experience in formulating eco-friendly dishwasher detergent tablets. No surprise they’re made of 99.5% natural ingredients, using plant-based enzymes to safely break down caked-on food. You won’t find chlorine bleach, dyes, parabens, SLES, palm oil, or other harsh chemicals here.
If you have hard water, mineral-based water softeners mean these tablets will work effectively in hard water without the need for environmentally damaging phosphates. We can confirm that these work super well, even though we have somewhat hard water, and always leave our dishes residue-free.
Each pod is encased in a dissolvable polyvinyl alcohol (PHOV) film.
About Puracy
Puracy is a small, family-owned company that works closely with its US-based manufacturers to make sure that ingredients are high quality and ethically produced. All products are PETA-approved vegan and certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny.
The carbon footprint of each order is offset through their partnership with the Pachama Project and the brand further donates to a wide range of charities.
Ecozone
Ecozone’s Eco-Friendly Dishwasher Detergent Tablets
Price Range: £7
Ecozone offers tablets that are non-toxic, plant-based, vegan, cruelty-free, and allergy-friendly as approved by Allergy UK.
Instead of POVH, the eco-friendly plastic free dishwasher tablets feature wrappers that are made from a soluble 100% vegetable-based cornstarch. They come in compostable or recyclable cardboard packaging.
About Ecozone
Ecozone is a UK company on a mission to reduce harmful chemicals and cut CO2 emissions with over a hundred biodegradable cleaning products certified by the Vegan Society, Cruelty-Free International, and PETA. They’re also endorsed by NatureWatch for their animal welfare efforts.
VOYA
VOYA’s Eco-Friendly Dishwasher Sheets
Price Range: $14–20
On a low waste living voyage?
Go with VOYA and their mineral and plant-based dishwasher sheets. They’re not tablets, per se, but they are natural, vegan, cruelty-free, and hypoallergenic. Each sheet (which contains two mini sheets perforated in the middle) is equivalent to eight lids of liquid dish detergent and is free of SLS/SLES, fragrances, artificial dyes, phosphorus, phosphates, and benzene.
We’ve tested them in both the dishwasher (just put half a sheet on the top rack) and for handwashing dishes and found them effortlessly effective in both regards. We especially love how light and space-efficient they are to store. Just a simple brown paperboard envelope we can compost when empty.
While septic-safe, they do contain PVA to keep the other nine minimal ingredients held together in sheet form.
About VOYA
VOYA is a laundry and eco-friendly dishwasher soap brand from Canada aiming to do something about the fact that the ocean will have more plastic than fish by 2050. All products come in the form of dissolvable papers in compostable packaging.
Jenny is a UK-based sustainability writer and tea-drinker extraordinaire who has a Masters in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh. Her travels have taken her to organic permaculture farms in the UK and Nepal but you’ll mostly find her working on the veg patch with a garden fork in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. Jenny writes for ethical brands and purpose-powered publications on a broad range of sustainable living and conscious consumerism topics. She is passionate about organic and regenerative farming, nature reconnection, and the small things we can do each day to better care for our planet.
