How Green Reco Laundry Detergent Sheets?

Disclosure.  This post is a review of  a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Early last year I was introduced to Reco toothtabs, which I’ve been purchasing on subscription since reviewing them as they are the best plastic-free toothpaste that I’ve tried to date.

When you browse round the Reco webshop, you will see they also sell a good range of eco-friendly products from other trusted brands. But they are now about to launch their second own product and they sent me a trial pack to test out in advance for free. And no it is not a dental item this time. May I present …..

….. Reco Laundry Detergent Strips

I certainly haven’t seen or heard of anything remotely similar, so was only too happy to put these to the test.

First the packaging is cardboard and according to their website, it has already been recycled. You can either recycle or compost this. Plus it easily fits through the letterbox. No plastic bottle or capsule. Did you know that it is estimated that only about 9% of all plastic waste has ever been recycled!

Moving onto the information displayed on the packaging or website, I immediately felt confused when I read the composition. A lot of chemical sounding words plus warnings of skin irritation. This didn’t sound as eco as I hoped, although the website does say safe for the environment – OECD 301B certified biodegradable. More jargon that I don’t understand. Hopefully when they launch they can make this side of things clearer for the consumer.

My personal wishlist in this regard for an eco laundry product would be to see clear bullet points along the following lines.

Natural Ingredients
No chemicals
Cruelty free

So I would be very interested to hear which of these it ticks. I totally get its plus points over a liquid detergent as regards plastic and carbon cost. But I’m going to play devil’s advocate now and ask what are its plus points over a powder detergent, besides less cardboard? I hope its not a case of greenwashing!

The product itself comes in lightweight perforated sheets of two strips which are simple to split. The instructions indicate that one strip will be sufficient unless you live in a hard water area and your washing load is heavily soiled, in which case two strips are recommended. I have soft water here.

The directions tell you to put the strip in the back of the washing machine drum before loading your laundry. It has a strong pleasant fragrance before use and I found my laundry to have a hint of this after they had dried on the line. As regards effectiveness, it was great on general soiling like food stains but didn’t really impact long-term stains like armpits at 40 degrees, which it is fair to say is on a par with most products. And it dissolved perfectly. In fact the website indicates that they dissolve instantly in cold or hot water.

I couldn’t see any mention of whether they expected you to use them in conjunction with fabric conditioner or not. However this is a product I stopped using a couple of years ago, and in my opinion the Reco laundry sheets worked fine without the use of fabric conditioner.

So to summarise, an effective laundry product which is definitely more environmentally friendly than a liquid detergent or capsule, but I would like more clarity on the rest of its eco-credentials. In the meantime I’ll be sticking to using horse chestnuts or soap nuts for my laundry.

And if you can’t wait until the product launches to give it a try, how about seeing if you get lucky in their giveaway to win a year’s supply of Reco Laundry Detergent Strips worth £100!

I’d love to hear what is your favourite product from Reco or your suggestions for additions to the range. And don’t forget to check out the Reco blog too, where I see they are on the same wavelength as me, when it comes to cleaning with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

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AD Britmums #ACEit Challenge or has she gone conkers?

Disclosure. This post is an entry for the #ACEit Challenge, sponsored by ACE. Get ideas on how to wash whites, treat stains and laundry like a boss with tips from the ACE site!
This post mentions a product I received for free. All opinions are my own. This post is classed as an advert because of the requirement to include the #ACEit hashtag.

Britmums recently challenged bloggers to take part in the #ACEit Challenge for brighter whites when trying the new ACE Ultra for Whites. I was in two minds whether to take part in this challenge or not, especially since it is in a plastic bottle. Regular followers of my blog will know that I am trying to reduce plastic. Pity it isn’t a powder rather than a liquid, as the last ACE product I reviewed, ACE for Colours Powder came in a plastic-free fully recyclable carton.

However I have to admit that my whites have been starting to look rather off-white since I swapped regular detergent for more eco-friendly alternatives, like soap nuts or homemade from horse chestnuts (conkers). Don’t get me wrong, my laundry is clean, but not bright white. I know you can’t expect a natural product to give the same results that bleach does, so perhaps this would be the answer, an occasional helpful boost from ACE.

So I signed up and received a free 1L bottle of ACE Ultra for Whites.

Now onto the actual washing test. There were my eldest son’s school shirts complete with very bad underarm stains and greyish grimy collars, plus off-white socks and undies, along with a very grey floor cloth. Unfortunately only a very small load, as ACE Ultra for Whites should only be used on totally white items. Again from an eco point of view, I prefer to do a full load which would normally include cream coloured bedding and towels too plus clothes which are part white, part coloured.

The instructions on the bottle suggested 4 possible alternative methods of use as follows, (along with household cleaning instructions for your sinks, etc too) …

1. Fill your CL bleach compartment with the product. (My washing machine doesn’t have a CL compartment.)
2. Fill your fabric conditioner compartment with the product, if you’re not planning to use fabric conditioner.
3. Pour product directly in during a pre-wash cycle.
4. Soak by hand in 10L of water to 150ml of product, for 20-30 minutes before rinsing and washing as usual.

I decided to opt for method 4, but I have to say I didn’t see much difference after the 30 minutes, but I assumed that perhaps I had over-diluted it, as I had just guessed how much to fill the sink. I didn’t actually measure the 10 litres of water. Also there was no indication of what temperature the water should be, so I had opted for warm, which may have been wrong too.

Since I still needed to wash the clothes, I tried again, this time using method 2. A much better success. Everything did look bright white. However ACE didn’t work its full magic on the underarm stains. They were better but still yellowish. The most remarkable change was on the floor cloth. It actually was white again.

About ACE Ultra:

• It’s specifically formulated to help brighten dull whites.
• It’s gentle on delicate clothes.
• It tackles germs and odours, including viruses. That means not only do your clothes smell cleaner, they actually are cleaner – something even more important in the current climate.
• It’s concentrated, making it among the most affordable ways to keep white clothes looking bright!
• It’s available in Morrison’s.
• NOTE: ACE Ultra includes bleach.
• ACE Ultra for Whites should only be used on totally white items.

So yes I can see some plus points from ACE Ultra, but I think on the whole, it is not the product for me. Instead can anyone point me in the direction of an eco-friendly answer for brighter whites please, if such a thing exists?

And for those of you still wondering, how on earth do I use conkers for my laundry, let me point you here to The Watercress Queen who I have to thank for this environmentally friendly idea. I tried this out last Autumn and I still have over 4 big jars left, so no need to collect any this season. Plus not only is it eco, but it is very cost effective too, saving all the money you would have spent on detergent. I made a couple of variations to the original method, one being I dried the pieces of conker spread out on trays in the airing cupboard for about a week. And secondly I only do two soaks rather than three. I can highly recommend you try this idea out, but if you do, please remember to plant some of the conkers you collect.

Before trying this, I had bought a large bag of soap nuts shells, which work on the same principle. However I am a bigger fan of using conkers because they are grown locally so have a minimal carbon footprint in comparison. Also subsequent to buying the soap nuts, I read that the export market has driven the price up so locals who have been using them for generations can no longer afford them, which is so wrong and needs addressing. I do also use the soap nuts in the dishwasher although I haven’t dared try conkers, since they are poisonous.

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Simply Washing review and giveaway

In a household with 2 young boys, my washing machine is in use several times a week. For starters, there is muddy sports kit and lunch dropped on their school uniforms. Then when we go out for a pizza, my requests for them to use the napkins are ignored. Instead greasy fingers are wiped down the front of their clothes. Also son1 has an annoying habit of rubbing himself against the length of a brick wall whenever out walking near one, which doesn’t do any favours to his clothes.

So I was very pleased to be offered the chance to review Simply laundry products. How would they fare against my washing challenges? I received a pack of 24 Simply Pure Allergen and Fragrance Free Laundry Soft-tabs and a pack of 24 Simply Sensitive Non-Bio Laundry Soft-tabs for free.

Luckily our family is mostly free of skin conditions or irritations apart from very occasional flare-ups, mostly during the height of the pollen season. But for those of you who this is more key for, both packets are endorsed by the National Eczema Society. Both packets also indicate that they are phosphate free and they endorsed by the Vegan Society since they are not tested on animals.

Now I usually put my detergent directly into the drum, but for the purposes of the review I was advised to put the tab at the back of the drawer. I thought I did this correctly but my first load failed as the tab was still in the drawer after the wash. Instead I had to remove the drawer entirely from its housing in order to put the tab right at the very very back as per the photo below. A bit fiddly really, as fingers can’t reach that area otherwise, but I assume that must be the only area the water reaches in my drawer. I’ll probably stick to my normal practice of popping it directly in the drum in future.

So instead my second load was the real test. This was dirty school clothes and you can see from the before and after shots, that I was pleased with the results using a Simply Sensitive tab. I’ve also been happy with the effectiveness of Simply Pure, which is fairly similar to Simply Sensitive with the addition of also being perfume free.

I have a water purifier fitted, so I don’t normally need to use any fabric conditioner. This proved to still hold true for both products.

These products are available to purchase online from Amazon. The Simply Pure Allergen and Fragrance Free Laundry Soft-tabs currently retail at £14.98 for a pack of 48 and the Simply Sensitive Non-Bio Laundry Soft-tabs at £14.58 for a pack of 48. They are also available to purchase in store from Sainsbury’s and Holland & Barrett’s. You only need one tab per load so that is about 30p per wash. They are also available on Amazon in larger packs of 100 or 200 tabs, which work out cheaper per wash.

I would happily recommend both these products, although they are more expensive than some other brands.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a bulk pack of either 100 Simply Sensitive or Simply Pure laundry soft tabs. courtesy of Simply to one lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear your tips for dealing with bad stains or coping with skin conditions.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of products I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.