Score table highlights
Over half of the companies in the laundry market have positive Company Ethos and/or Product Sustainability marks, meaning that consumers have lots of opportunities to buy from companies offering environmental or social alternatives to the mainstream. Many of these are small, independent companies, so Anti-Social Finance, Oppressive Regimes and political lobbying aren’t big issues in this guide.
Good corporate social responsibility reporting isn’t a given, however: few companies achieved best ratings for environmental reporting and/or supply chain management, and many performed poorly on pollution and toxics due to the substandard (or absent) policies on the use of parabens, phthalates and triclosan, although these are less commonly used in laundry detergent than other cleaning products.
Animal testing policy
In October 2015, the UK Government banned the testing of ‘finished’ household products on animals and introduced a ‘qualified ban’ on testing the ingredients on animals. But it’ll make little difference to animal welfare. This is because no animals have been used for testing ‘finished’ household products in the UK since 2010. It’s usually the ingredients not the ‘finished’ products that are tested on animals.
Animal testing policy scores are polarised, with only three (Sodasan, Attitude, Sonett) getting a middle rating while all the others get either a best or a worst rating. The household giants (McBride, Reckitt Benckiser, Procter & Gamble, Unilever) occupy the bottom rungs.
Toxic chemicals ratings
There are thousands of ingredients used in household products and many of them have negative environmental impacts and health effects ranging from skin irritation to carcinogenicity.
Best rating: Greenscents, Ecos, Faith in Nature, Bio-D, Ecozone and Lilly's Eco Clean.
Middle rating: Sodasan, Sonett, Skagen Holdings (Ecover, Method), Unilever (Persil, Surf,
Comfort), PZ Cussons (Morning Fresh)
Worst ratiing: Triangle Wholefoods (Ecoleaf), Enpac (Simply), Astonish, Dri-Pak, Delta Pronatura (ACDO, Dr. Beckmann), McBride (Surcare), Jeyes Holdings (Easy), SC Johnson & Son (Shout), Reckitt Benckiser (Dettol, Vanish, Woolite), Henkel AG (Dylon), Procter & Gamble (Ariel, Bold, Daz, Fairy, Lenor)
We discuss the three toxic chemicals, Parabens, Triclosan and Phthalates in more detail in our feature.
Palm oil ratings
Only five companies achieved our best rating for their palm oil policy (Sodasan, Earth Friendly Products, Triangle Wholefoods, Sonett). Of these, Earth Friendly Products (ECOS brand) is palm oil free.
Of the big brands, Unilever managed a middle rating, whereas Reckitt Benckiser and Procter and Gamble received our worst rating, along with many other brands covered in this guide.
Supermarket own brands
Many supermarkets sell their own brands of laundry detergent.
McBride (scoring 7.5 on the table for its brand Surcare) generally makes most of the own brand detergents for supermarkets. See our ethical guide to supermarkets for the rating of supermarkets.
Price Comparison
Price per wash based on the recommended dosage or 50ml per wash.
|
Price per wash |
Astonish |
11p |
Surcare |
17p |
Daz |
18p |
Ecoleaf (BB) |
20p |
Faith in Nature (BB) |
20p |
Ariel |
22p |
Surf |
22p |
Sodasan |
23p |
Fairy |
23p |
Method |
24p |
Bio-D (BB) |
24p |
Greenscents (BB) |
27p |
Persil |
28p |
Dylon White-n-Bright |
29p |
Woolite |
29p |
Ecover |
30p |
Bold |
34p |
Sonett |
35p |
Attitude |
52p |
(BB) = brands with the Best Buy label