Best eco-friendly laundry detergents 2024 UK

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With the GHI's tried and tested washing liquids, powders and capsules, there's no need to sacrifice cleaning power for ethics stainless cookware cleaner

Whether itchy skin is getting you down or you’re trying to do your bit for the planet, swapping your regular laundry detergent for non-bio or more eco-friendly alternatives could be a household move worth making.

Happily, there’s no need to sacrifice washing performance for greener credentials, as these more environmentally friendly products have improved considerably since the Good Housekeeping Institute first started testing them back in the 1980s and 1990s. So if past experience has put you off, it's time to try again!

The GHI tried and tested a range of products to find the ones that best balance cleaning power with environmentally-friendly efforts. Read on for our buyer’s guide and full verdicts, or snap up one of our top picks right now:

Whether a detergent is ‘eco-friendly’ comes down to many factors, from the way it's made to how it's disposed of, and everything in between.

One element is packaging. Lots of the products on our list have more sustainable packaging, be it entirely plastic-free, or made from recycled materials. Also, consider buying a concentrated detergent as this requires less packaging and saves on the energy involved in shipping heavy volumes.

When it comes to formulas, it’s harder to define. There is legislation in place in the UK, for example, to ensure that ‘surfactants’ (the ingredients that make detergents bubbly) do biodegrade, albeit in very specific circumstances. Similarly, the quantity of phosphates allowed in laundry detergents is also limited by law. This means that some claims made by ‘eco’ products may be equally true of many products that don’t claim to be ‘eco-friendly’.

For more certainty about the formula you’re buying, look for certifications from trusted environmental bodies such as the Soil Association or The Vegan Society (if you’re after a palm-oil free product, for example). They will have investigated claims and ingredients to ensure they meet their own environmental standards.

Whichever detergent you buy, there are also more sustainable ways you can use it at home. Running your cycle at a lower temperature, for example, is a good start, as you’ll also be using less energy to wash your clothes.

In fact, according to Cold Water Saves, if your household switched to cold water washing for a year, you’d save enough energy to charge your iPhone over 30,000 times.

To find the best eco-friendly laundry detergents on the market, we dirtied a pile of cotton and polycotton clothes with common household stains such as tea, mud and makeup. We then ran them through a series of 40-degree cycles with each detergent, before assessing stain removal, whiteness retention and any colour fading using a high-tech piece of lab equipment called a DigiEye.

The same detergents were also handed out to a panel – their feedback was taken into consideration when awarding each product an overall score. You’ll find our favourites – including bio and non-bio – below.

Because environmental claims are varied – from plastic-free packaging to the formulas themselves – our scores are focused on cleaning performance only. Instead, we’ve listed the eco claims of each product – and explained what to look for – so you can prioritise what’s most important to you.

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If you care about the environment but are also faced with a mountain of grubby laundry, our winning bio detergent saves you from having to compromise. It banished 89% of stains from our polycotton clothes and proved particularly effective against baby food and sebum (the body oil that contributes to acne). It scored top marks for colour retention too, with only minimal fading after several spins in the machine, and it left all our white garments sparkling.

Tea stains got the better of it on both cotton and polycotton, but the majority of our panel said they would keep using it. Our only niggles involved the limited user guidance – we weren’t sure whether to dispense it into the drum or drawer – and the fact that the bottle doesn’t come with a handle and is therefore slightly tricky to grip.

Determined to be as plastic-free as possible? Try these non-bio capsules. Buying them involves signing up for a postal subscription, but you can give the nine-wash trial a go first – it’s free, bar £1 postage. It’s up to you how regularly a box arrives through your letterbox and you can change the frequency at any time.

Not merely convenient, they also work a treat. They dissolved effectively and over 80% of stains disappeared from our cotton pile, including coffee, foundation and baby food. Once again, tea wouldn’t budge, and there was some colour fading after a few cycles, but whiteness retention was strong and most of the panel said they planned to use these vegan capsules again.

This concentrated bio detergent comes in a choice of three fragrances – we tried peony blush. It smelled pleasant, but note that it’s not entirely plant-based, in case you're adversely affected by synthetic perfumes. In terms of effectiveness, it removed 90% of stains from our polycotton pile and only struggled with tea and foundation residue.

There was next to no colour fading, which is impressive for a bio formula, and it didn’t drop a point for white retention on nylon. Our panel unanimously agreed that they would buy it again, but it’s fairly bulky to store and the lack of a handle makes pouring an accurate dose a bit trickier. We noticed some slight signs of greying on our white cotton and polycotton clothing, too.

Everyone who tried these bio capsules was satisfied with their cleaning capabilities. In the lab, they impressed with their stain removal on both cotton and synthetic fabrics, lifting an average of over 80% across all our tests. Our testers also said they cleaned clothing well, even at colder temperatures.

The lilac and rose scent was a hit, and all our panellists found them easy to use, as there’s no messy pouring required. They dissolved well too, meaning our experts didn’t find any residue left on their laundry when they were hanging it up to dry afterwards.

We love that you can avoid unnecessary plastic waste by buying refill packs for this liquid detergent – Splosh will even recycle them if you send back eight empty pouches. It made over 90% of stains vanish from cotton and polycotton, including famously tricky tomato puree, and scored top marks for colour retention.

Our white nylon clothes looked dazzling after washing but we noticed a grey tinge to our cotton and polycotton items. It’s unclear you should dispense it into the drum or drawer and the seal in the lid looks like it should be removed, which breaks the dosing function. Still, the majority of our panel loved it and we like that it’s available either with a cotton fragrance or none at all.

This recyclable bottle’s handle made it the most comfortable to hold and easiest to use of all the bio detergents on test. It triumphed over baby food, makeup and blood stains, fully erasing them from cotton and polycotton, and it did not fade our coloured items.

Unfortunately, our white cotton, nylon and polycotton clothes lost some of their brightness and we could still detect some tea stains after washing. You also have to order dosage caps separately. The price feels reasonable, especially if you have a colourful wardrobe, although quality could be better.

This non-bio detergent’s bottle is made entirely from recycled material, earning it serious brownie points. Happily, it ticked many other boxes too. It delivered a flawless performance in our colour retention test and scored highly for whiteness retention.

It picked up 71% of stains from cotton, which isn’t bad, but it could have been better at getting make-up smudges out of polycotton. The carton’s handle made it easy and mess-free to use, but we struggled to read the measuring stick inside the dosing cap.

Sheets are an alternative to tablets or liquid detergent that require less packaging. These Dr Beckmann ones come in a recyclable wallet and are easy to store if you’re tight on space. They release their cleaning agents by dissolving in the wash and our testers found they performed well, leaving no deposits on our clothes after the cycle had ended.

If you like a neutral fragrance, these sheets will please as their scent doesn’t linger on clothes. They removed at least 80% of stains from cotton and polycotton too, although some colours dulled a little and our whites weren’t the brightest. Our experts said they’d be an excellent pick for hand washing, whether that’s at home or on holiday when you want to give your clothes a quick refresh.

We tested the non-bio sheets too, awarding them a score of 72/100.

When it comes to laundry detergents, there are many choices, so let’s quickly run through your options.

The GHI has found that powdered laundry detergent is almost always the best at removing stains. That said, budget and personal preference should also play a role in your decision-making process.

Powder, though cheap, is messy to use and it can be tricky to know how much to measure out per wash.

Liquids and gels dissolve more quickly and are bleach-free, meaning they're gentler on coloured clothes. On the flip-side, this lack of a bleaching agent allows smells to build up in your washing machine, so you’ll probably need to clean it more frequently.

Keen to minimise waste? You may wish to consider tablets and capsules, which provide you with the correct dose and dissolve more slowly, meaning less is lost down the drain.

The difference between biological and non-biological detergent is that the latter doesn’t contain enzymes and is usually free from dyes and fragrances, too. The enzymes in bio detergents break down amino acids in protein-based stains such as blood and egg, boosting cleaning power, but they can also be an irritant and fade coloured garments.

If you regularly find yourself washing muddy clothes or wanting to brighten whites, opt for bio. If you have sensitive skin or wash a lot of delicate materials, give non-bio a try. We've featured both in our roundup.

Hannah is our homes editor, specialising in reviewing the latest kitchen appliances, cleaning products, mattresses and bedding, and crafting equipment. Hannah has written about hundreds of products, from air fryers to smoothie makers to pillows, and is committed to finding the most reliable and best value for money buys.

Hannah is also interested in sustainability in the home and has completed a course with the University of the Arts London in sustainable textiles, so she can help cut through the noise on what’s green and what’s not. Hannah has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously worked as a freelance lifestyle and women’s sports journalist, working for Stylist, Sky Sports and more.

Hannah has also previously worked in a florist and can normally be found caring for her house plants or sewing something new for her home or wardrobe.

Blossom is our Senior Homes Tester. Passionate about finding the best home products and appliances for our readers, she has tested everything from blenders to pizza ovens. Blossom enjoys delving into the intricacies of products and refining testing protocols for hundreds of items. Innovative items like robot vacuum cleaners and wine coolers are among her favourite tests to date, and her most notable accomplishment is toasting 360 slices of bread in a determined bid to find the best toaster. In her free time, Blossom openly admits to being a music geek and indulges her creative side through crocheting, baking, singing and writing.

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