What To Look For In An Eco-Friendly Dishwasher Detergent

Key Takeaways

• "Eco-friendly" isn't a regulated seal and anyone can print it on a box. Instead, look for a full ingredient list, a phosphate-free formula, and a real third-party certification.

• Dishwasher detergent has been phosphate-free in the US since 2010, but formulas still vary widely in what else they contain and how they're packaged.

• Blueland's Dishwasher Detergent Tablets list every ingredient on the product page, skip the dissolving plastic film used in many single-dose pods, and ship as refills in industrially compostable paper instead of a new plastic bottle every time.

In a world where greenwashing runs rampant, certifications are everything. If you can't find an ingredient list or a trusted certification, an "eco-friendly" label on the front isn't telling you much.

Start With the Ingredient List, Not the Label

"Eco-friendly" has no legal definition specific to cleaning products. The Federal Trade Commission's Green Guides don't ban the phrase, but they do require that any environmental claim be backed by evidence a company can actually produce if asked. The FTC's own consumer guidance says marketers have to be able to show real proof behind a claim, not just assert it. 

A more useful signal is whether the brand tells you what's actually in the box. Blueland's ingredient philosophy is built around disclosing every ingredient in every formula, by name, on the product page, not hiding anything behind a generic "surfactants and enzymes" catch-all. If a detergent brand won't tell you what's in the tablet, that's worth noticing before anything else on this list.

Skip Anything With Phosphates

Phosphates used to be standard in dishwasher detergent because they're excellent at softening water and boosting cleaning power. They're also a major driver of algal blooms: excess phosphorus running into lakes and rivers feeds algae growth that depletes oxygen and disrupts aquatic ecosystems. In 2010, seventeen US states banned phosphates in dishwasher detergent specifically because of this, and manufacturers reformulated nationwide rather than sell two versions of the same product.

Look for a Real Certification, Not Just the Word

Certifications exist precisely because "eco-friendly" alone doesn't mean much. The EPA's Safer Choice label, for example, only goes on products where every ingredient has been reviewed for aquatic toxicity, carcinogenicity, and environmental persistence, and where the finished product has passed performance testing against conventional alternatives. Roughly 2,000 products currently carry that label out of the thousands sold in the US.

Other certifications worth checking for on a dishwasher detergent or the brand behind it: Climate Neutral Certified (verified carbon footprint offsetting), Certified B Corporation (audited social and environmental performance), Cradle to Cradle Platinum Material Health Certificate (ingredient-level material health review), and USDA BioPreferred (biobased content verification). Blueland holds several of these at the brand level. You can see a list of Blueland’s certifications here. 

Check What the Tablet Itself Is Wrapped In

A detail that's easy to miss: many single-dose dishwasher pods are wrapped in a water-soluble film made of polyvinyl alcohol, or PVA. It disappears when it hits water, which makes it look like it vanishes completely, but a 2021 Arizona State University study found that roughly 75% of PVA passes through US wastewater treatment untreated, adding up to an estimated 8,000 tons released into land and waterways every year.

"A lot of companies are claiming that PVA is biodegradable. It's not fully degrading," said Charlie Rolsky, co-first author of the study. The issue isn't that PVA can never break down, it's that doing so requires specific treatment conditions that most US wastewater plants don't provide. Blueland has covered this in more depth, including why dissolving isn't the same thing as biodegrading. Blueland's 100% plastic-free dishwasher tablets skip the PVA film format entirely. 

Consider the Box, Not Just the Tablet

The formula is only half the packaging question. According to the EPA's most recent materials-waste data, the US generated 14.5 million tons of plastic packaging in a single year, and only about 13.6% of it got recycled—the rest was landfilled or combusted. A dishwasher detergent that ships in a refillable or cardboard format, rather than a new plastic bottle every time, is doing something measurable about that math, even before you get to what's inside it.

Blueland's dishwasher detergent tablets ship as refills in industrially-compostable paper rather than a new plastic tub each time, which also means less water and weight being shipped around the country per load compared to liquid detergent.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is "eco-friendly" a regulated term for cleaning products?

No. There's no legal certification tied to the phrase itself. The FTC only requires that whatever specific claim a company makes be backed by real evidence, not that "eco-friendly" itself means anything in particular.

Are phosphates still allowed in dishwasher detergent?

No. Phosphates in dishwasher detergent have been effectively phased out nationwide since a wave of state bans in 2010, largely because phosphorus runoff contributes to algal blooms in lakes and rivers.

What's wrong with the plastic film wrapped around some dishwasher pods?

That film is usually made of PVA, a plastic that dissolves in water but doesn't necessarily biodegrade in most US wastewater treatment systems, according to a 2021 ASU study.

Does refillable paper packaging actually cut down on packaging waste?

It reduces the plastic bottle volume shipped and thrown away compared to liquid detergent, though the ingredients still matter separately from the packaging format.

Sources

• Environmental Claims: Summary of the Green Guides - Federal Trade Commission

• Eco-Friendly and Green Marketing Claims - FTC Consumer Advice

• The Unintended Consequences of Household Phosphate Bans - Iowa State University CARD

• Learn About the Safer Choice Label - US EPA

• Are laundry and dish pods biodegradable? Not exactly, ASU study shows

• Containers and Packaging: Product-Specific Data - US EPA