Lovett Sundries Unscented Dishwasher Powder

Let me change the way you wash your dishes forever.

Last year I decided to try to eliminate as much single use plastic from our home as possible. I grew up with powdered dishwasher detergent so I thought that would be an easy swap instead of pods or plastic bottles of liquid. So we switched to a national brand powdered dishwasher detergent and it worked great - obviously, with new tech in the machines, they seem to be able to deal with powder without the residue that we all remember from our childhood. Great! Then I happened to notice the ingredients. Yikes. Ever heard of alkylbenzenesulfonates? Me neither, but it's in there. Along with perfumes and lots of other things I really would rather not have on my dishes or in the ecosystem generally.

So I checked with Jeff, my guy who makes our amazing laundry soap - and sure enough, he's got a dishwasher soap too. Four simple, natural ingredients; washing soda, borax, sea salt and citric acid. That's it. Just the stuff that works. AND NOT A SCRAP OF PLASTIC ANYWHERE.

It comes in a tin. You use 2 standard tablespoons per load (3 if it's really a mess). Most importantly, this stuff works. We tested it repeatedly on our sometimes overfilled, often poorly organized dishwasher and it worked just as well as the national brand powder or the pods. Note - we keep the rinse aid dispenser full, but we did that even when we used the pods.

Is it more expensive than pods per wash? Yup. But I'm happy to trade convenience of the microplastic coated pods (that may dissolve but are environmentally persistent like all microplastic) and the impossible to pronounce chemicals for the knowledge that my dishwashing is not contributing to the plastic disaster and all around environmental degradation all around us.

Start with a 1.5lb tin, which officially gives you 17 loads, but if you're careful with your measuring you may get a few more. If demand warrants it, I will order a bulk supply so I can offer refills, just like with the detergent, but you can also order direct from Jeff. I'm good with that.

Plastic free is a good thing. Clean dishes is even better.

Made in Pittsburgh, PA