Looking to remove plastic from your dishwashing routine? It's easy with these alternatives for zero waste dish soap for hand-washing and dish powder for your dishwasher, as well as these natural compostable sponges, scrubbers, and cloths.

Removing plastic from your dishwashing routine is relatively easy. There are a number of options for zero waste soap and powder and scrubbers and cloths. We share some great options below.

Plastic-free & low waste dishwashing tablet/powder options

Plastic-free dishwashing tablet/powder options include:

• refiling your own container with bulk dishwashing powder at a bulk store that has bulk cleaning products,

• using tablets that come in a cardboard box only like ATTITUDE Dishwasher Eco-Pouches (US/CAN), Ecoleaf dishwashing tablets (UK), Ecozone dishwasher tablets (UK) and ecostore dishwasher tablets (AU),

• buying powder online in a paper bag or glass jar such as Fill dishwasher powder (UK), or other eco-packaging options like Leaf Jou Dishwasher Tablets, which come in a sugarcane pulp container (South Africa),

• DIYing your own dishwashing powder or buy them from homemakers on Etsy (check whether the seller packages them in cardboard only or plastic before purchasing!).

Although, I have heard from some people that homemade dishwashing tablets/powder that they work and from others that they don’t work. This is because DIYing dish detergent can be tricky and it can be difficult to find a recipe that works, as it depends on how hard/soft your water is and the temperature you wash dishes at. I am yet to try any recipes myself and will let you know if I do!

In terms of rinse aid, you can get a concentrated dishwasher rinse aid in a returnable refill pouch (UK).

It took us a while to find a plastic-free/low-waste brand of dishwashing detergent that we thought worked as well as our old brand. We weren’t impressed by a few brands we refilled our own containers with at local bulk food stores, so we now use ecostore dishwasher tablets, which come in a cardboard box only.

Plastic-free & low waste dish soap/liquid options for hand-washing

Plastic-free dish soap options include:

• soap bars like Urthly Organics dishwash soap (AU), No Tox Life dish washing block (US/CAN), EcoLiving’s dish soap bar (UK), Canettevallei Dishwashing & Laundry Soap (South Africa), and plain olive oil soap (worldwide),

• refilling your dishwashing liquid bottle at a bulk store that has cleaning products in bulk or buying it in large 4 litre or 15 litre containers yourself (UK here / US/CAN here),

• buy washing up liquid in a glass bottle like Fill washing up liquid (UK), and

• use liquid castile soap like Dr Bronner’s (which can be bought in AU here, the UK here, and in the US/CAN here) bought in bulk to make your own dishwashing liquid, by diluting it with water using a ratio of 1:10  (pre-dilute it) and then squirting on a dishcloth to scrub your dishes.

You can also get washing up liquid in returnable refill packaging. Although this packaging may be plastic, it is reused or recycled by the company. An example is Bower Collective’s washing up liquid refill (UK).

Don’t overuse the liquid soap to make it last longer and store dish soap somewhere dry to make it last longer. You can place the soap on the dishcloth instead of in the water for more direct application to your dirty dishes.

A dish swisher soap cage - a stainless steel cage with a handle that encloses your soap bar - is a fantastic device that has made its way back from the past. You can put your dish soap in the soap cage and run hot water over the soap or swish it around the hot water in the sink to effectively create enough suds, but not too many, and to save your fingers from being singed.

Some soaps may leave a residue on certain cups and glasses if you don’t rinse them.

Plastic-free & compostable sponge & scrubbing brush options

Plastic-free scrubbing brush options include:

• dishwashing brushes with handles like the Redecker dishwashing brush with natural fibre bristles that comes with replaceable heads (AU here, US/CAN here, and UK here),

• crocheted hemp kitchen scrubbing cloths (AU),

• coconut fibre scrubbing pads (AU),

• coconut fibre bottle brushers and kitchen scrubbers (AU),

• cotton on one side/hessian on the other side washing up pad/scrubber (UK) - a great yellow green-topped sponge replacement

• compostable cellulose sponge made from wood pulp with loofah scourer (UK) - another great yellow green-topped sponge replacement

• copper scrubbing pads (US/CAN), and

• a sponge made from a piece of loofah, which can be bought (AU here, US/CAN here, and UK here) or you can grow your own.

All of these options can be composted at the end of their life, except for the copper scrubbing pads, which are 100% recyclable.

Plastic-free & zero waste dishcloth options

Plastic-free dishcloth options include:

• crocheted dishcloths, which you can buy (worldwide or here if in the UK and here if in South Africa) or crochet yourself, and

• dishcloths made from old towels or clothing or other fabric items.

Cotton crochet dishcloths can be composted at the end of their life and making your own is a great way to reuse material that would otherwise have been wasted.

Washing by hand versus using a dishwasher

Which is more eco-friendly? Washing your dishes in the sink or washing them in a dishwasher?

Energy efficient dishwashers can use less than half as much energy as washing dishes by hand and can save nearly 18 000 litres of water a year! Dishwashers can use three or four times less water than washing the same amount by hand.

To make your dishwasher as eco-friendly as possible:

• buy an energy efficient dishwasher when buying,

• use the eco-mode on your dishwasher or a lower temperature setting,

• use solar power to run your dishwasher and use it during the day,

• fill up the dishwasher before running it, and

• don’t rinse your plates first, but scrape off excess food.

To make washing by hand more water efficient don’t wash your dishes while the tap is running and don’t rinse them with the tap running either.

Are there any zero waste dishwashing options you swear by?

*this post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from a featured brand we may earn a small amount. To learn more, see our disclosure policy. We maintain this site in our free time and support in any way, shape or form means a lot and helps us keep it running, whether it is using an affiliate link when investing in something, sharing our content, or buying us a coffee on Ko-fi.here