apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I use palmolive scrubbing bubbles, or the dishwasher. Both work quite well ;-)

I didn't watch the video, but from the picture, it doesn't look like they tested any "green" liquids. I love my Ecover.

i have that large Dr. Bronner's bottle of soap to still use up so i've been using a slightly diluted mix for my dishwashing. works very well and i love how sudsy it gets.

I just put a couple drops of whatever in with lots of hot water and let it soak...

I prefer Caldrea. Comes in pretty bottles/colors/smells. It beats having that fluorescent green goo sitting out staring at me.

http://www.caldrea.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=235

Since most of my dishes are washed in the dishwasher, I'd love to see a smack-down of all the green dishwasher detergents. I tried using 7th Generation and it was so awful, I couldn't finish the box. So, I use Cascade, but I'd love to find something natural.

I agree, almost every liquid dish detergent you buy will get the dishes clean. I almost always start off with really hot water and a decent soak before I wash my dishes.

That said, these days I pick my detergent based on scent. I have grapefruit, lavender and citrus and choose according to my mood. Make washing the dishes way more pleasant.

I've been using two that I really like one being VIP cucumber Melon biodegradable soap which is Canadian made (so I'm not sure it's available in America, though I did once see it with Spanish on it so I assume it's out there somewhere)

and secondly we have a soap exchange on Vancouver Island which has an equally great product, though I fear many would look over both because they do not have bubbles to the same degree as other brands, but it's not the bubbles that do the cleaning anyways...

and they officially ran out of news.

Actually, they did test ecover and it came in right behind dawn.

My conscience & my wallet like Trader Joe's dish soap. (No animal testing and eco-friendly.)

Ecover has tables for the dishwasher.
I love my Ecover and Citra Solve dish soap.

Oh thanks for the reminder about Dr. Bronners! (or what we like to call "Jesus Soap"). I use it when we're camping/backpacking because it's safe in fragile environments. I love it for shampooing my hair in the desert. I use about 5 drops and get TONS of suds, and it rinses away literally squeeky clean with about 2 cups of water. I bought a bottle of Method at Target this weekend -- but I think I'm going to look for a bottle of Dr. Bronners for my dishwashing soap in the future.

What environment isn't "fragile"? : )

I have tried a lot of "green" products - hand soaps, body wash, detergent, dish soap, cosmetics - and I usually end up disappointed. They usually cost a little (or sometimes, a lot) more and then end up being less effective. Unfortunately, chemicals work and efficiency wins out to environmentalism.

I like Method products from a design standpoint and I'm currently using Method dish soap, but may end up going back to a non-green brand once this bottle is gone - it just doesn't work very well.

I haven't tried the Trader Joe's stuff. Anyone else have experience with it?

highshinebright - thanks!

arstellla - do you mean tablets? Do they work well?

I didn't like the TJs brand of dish soap -- I just don't think it works that well. I'm in adoration of crazy Dr. Bronner's soap... peppermint keeps working the best for me. It's an EXCELLENT mouthwash (diluted, of course), too.

"Unfortunately, chemicals work and efficiency wins out to environmentalism."


That is just so... depressing.

Not to be preachy, but I don't care if I have to work a little harder with a green(er) cleanser to get my dishes clean. I accept that tradeoff. That said, I've used Trader Joe's, Ecover and 7th Generation and not noticed a difference in quality between them and the supermarket brands. Hadn't thought of using Bronner's -- I'm always a little freaked out by the wordy packaging, but I store my dish soap in a pretty glass bottle anyway. Good idea! Now my dishes can be both clean, and minty fresh! Ha.

I make baby wipes with Dr. Bronners. Love the smell!

P.S. to Pixie: Green Clean Review recommends Ecover dishwashing tablets and Biokleen's automatic dish powder for use in dishwashers. Haven't tried them. See the blog at http://ecocleanreview.blogspot.com/

thanks much sugar2s. I'm going to check that out. I'm currently using Biokleen laundry detergent and I like it.

i <3 Ecover

Wait, was this really a news show or just another commercial? Isn't there anything at all happening on this planet to report on with some kind of useful meaning?

Can someone explain why Cascade (or Palmolive, or whatever big band of dishwashing or handwashing detergent) is worse for the environment than Seventh Generation, Ecover, TJ's soap, etc.? I'm not asking rhetorically -- I'm actually looking for an answer here.
FWIW, in my experience some of the big brands really *do* work a lot better than the ones marketed as "eco-friendly." (But some don't.)

This is kind of nit-picky, but is comparing a concentrated cleaner (like Dawn direct foam) against a non-concentrated soap fair?

They say they use a teaspoon of each, but the teaspoon of concentrated cleaner was probably supposed to have done 3 or 4 times the dishes...and probably costs 3-4x as much for that amount. (yep, i'm a research analyst)