Imagine washing your laundry without soap. Banishing environmentally damaging detergents is exactly what Ecozone hopes to accomplish with their Ecoballs.
All you do is put three of Ecoballs in with your wash and your clothes come clean. They're re-usable for about 1,000 loads. Skeptical? Read a review after the jump...
Ecoballs are filled with pellets containing mineral oxides and non-ionic surfactants. They're phosphorous-free and anti-bacterial. The fine people at SmartPlanet tried them out and found that they do work!
Their major complaints are that the clothes are left with "no scent at all except for wetness" and the balls must be removed immediately after the wash or they'll rot prematurely. SmartPlanet also had trouble contacting the Ecozone to get more information on the ethics behind the company and product.
Read the full SmartPlanet review HERE. To check them out for yourself, three Ecoballs (plus a stain remover) sell for about $70 at Ecozone.
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Comments (20)
"no scent at all except for wetness"... Is that bad? I would love that!
i suspect they are talking about a kind of wet dog smell. which would be horrible!
yeah, the smell of straight wet fabric can be kinda gross...
hmmm...interesting. I wonder if they could add some kind of lavendar or other scent? I love the smell of freshly laundered clothes, but wet dog is not appealing!
Wouldn't the wetness smell only be a problem if you let your clothes REMAIN wet? Maybe I am confused. When I read it, I thought it meant they sniffed it right out of the washer, hence the smell of wetness. I can only assume once dried, they just have no scent at all. Which I would prefer.
Interesting concept. Will definitely look into them. But I will have to save my pennies for the $70 price tag. Even if they will last for 1,000 washes.
Amazon's got 'em for "only" $59.95, enough to qualify for free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/StuffJunction-ECO-01-Eco-Laundry-Balls/dp/B000TXS64K/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1217520039&sr=1-1
You said, "soapless ecoballs."
Maybe I'm just being picky, but most liquid laundry detergents are "soap free". They are made with surfactants, mostly non-ionic, as is found in these balls.
If it is indeed a clean wet scent (instead of a musty/dog/icky wet scent) you can always use a downy ball with some white vinegar a few drops of whatever essential oil you like (instead of traditional fabric softener) to soften them and give your fabrics some scent in the washer.
Assuming that they do not break down/conflict with the pellets in the eco balls, which I do not know about!
I've been using these for the past year and a half. They're great! I have no problems with the smell of my laundry as there is no smell at all, which was a bit disconcerting at first, but you get used to it.
i like the smell of freshly laundered clothing. are they safe to use for babies? and what about people allergic to fungus? i'm asking seriously here cause i dont know.
what about stains? maybe this is a dumb question, but do they get rid of stains and other nasty things (i'm thinking gross stains like cat throw up, etc.)? can you use them at the laundromat? because if i don't have to lug around heavy detergents that are bad for the environment to the laundromat, i'm sold!
How do you know when it has used up all of its usefulness and it's time to replace it? Are you supposed to count all 1,000 washes??
i assume you can guesstimate how long you have between getting a new soapless ecoball by doing some math and paying attention to how often you do the laundry.
You could easily "scent" your laundry in the dryer with dryer sheets, or, if you're lucky enough to have one, get that yummy sun-dried smell from a clothesline.
The stain thing is an issue, though. And if you do your laundry at a laundromat (or anywhere with multiple machines), that means you're buying multiple balls (cha-ching!). Really wish they were cheaper!!
I was excited about these until I read that you're supposed to use all three at once. I thought you'd only need to use one and that therefore the savings would be almost exponential. I figure the average single person does maybe two loads of laundry per week which would equal 104 washes per year. This means a single ball could last almost 10 years! I go to a laundromat so if I had to buy more than one set of these to do my multiple loads I coudln't afford it. To anyone who has used these, have you used all three or is one sufficient?
My sisters sells these some sort of nuts from India that get your laundry clean. She recommended using them inside a sock, so the crumbs wont get into your laundry...can't remember the name...
Ha! Found it! It's a product of the Sapindus tree, also known as the soap berry tree, and you can read more about it from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus
The ones mentioned above by paintitbright that were on Amazon are not the same brand... I wonder if they're of the same quality. Ecozone, the maker of Ecoballs, doesn't ship to the U.S. I tried a whole bunch of places (found via Google) but almost none of them ship outside the U.K. The only one I found willing to ship to the U.S. wanted the equivalent of $40.00 for shipping costs alone! Has anyone found this product for sale in the U.S.? Or has anyone had experience with another brand that has a similar function?