Aside from DIY dish detergent, what options are there for eco-friendly and sustainable dish detergents? I was wondering this back in early 2020 when I was trying to find alternatives to the plastic I was bringing into my home. Dish detergent was one area that I wanted to change. The dish detergent pods I was using were doing a great job in the dishwasher, but they weren’t doing a great job for the planet. I found Dropps dishwasher detergent pods in my search for greener products and I’ve been using them since May 2020.
Dish detergent can make a big difference in the kitchen. You don’t want spots, yesterday’s food, foul smells, or any other icky thing on surfaces that touch your food. There’s a lot that dish detergent can mess up. So here’s what my experience has been like with Dropps dishwasher detergent pods over the past year! Hopefully this review will help you determine if Dropps is the right choice for your kitchen too.
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Ratings
Overall Score
Function
Durability
Ease of Use
Appearance
Packaging
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Plastic-free packaging
- Recyclable and compostable packaging
Cons
- Ingredients for lemon scented pods get a poor rating by EWG
Do I recommend this product?
Yes! I do! Dropps dish detergent pods have never disappointed me. I have definitely had my share of disappointing dish detergents but Dropps has never left my dishes dirty or spotty. I couldn’t be happier with them so I absolutely recommend them to others.
Does it get the job done? (Function)
Yes! Yes! Yes! The dish pods have been consistent throughout the year+ that I’ve used them and I couldn’t be more satisfied. My dishes are clear glass, so I really notice any spots, smudges, or leftover stuff. Dropps doesn’t leave my dishes with weird residue, spots, leftover food from last night, or any other icky things.
I’ve only had one minor struggle with some really baked-on food. But it didn’t take me more than a minute or two of scrubbing in the sink to completely get rid of the small spot after a cycle in the dishwasher. One occurrence in a year+ isn’t enough for me to take off a star so Dropps gets a perfect rating for function!
Is it durable?
Dropps FAQ’s claim that their pods will last about 2-3 years in a cool dry location. I keep mine in an airtight glass jar on my laundry room shelf and they’ve always been just fine. I haven’t had any trouble with my product going bad. I’ve also never heard of anyone else having a poor experience with their product going bad.
The shelf life of these pods is especially great when it comes to cost too, but I’ll touch on that more in the cost section of this review.
The most important thing you should remember is to keep water away. That’s why I keep my Dropps products in sealed jars. Water will dissolve the PVOH film (that thin flexible film) around the contents inside. The last thing you want is a bunch of unusable pods because of a leak or bad spill.
Ease of use?
These work like any other dish detergent pod on the market. You simply add the pod to the dish detergent space in your dishwasher, close the door, and run your cycle like normal. I’ve never had any trouble with the pod sticking to the door, or not dissolving during a cycle. (But I have had pods from other brands stick to the door or not dissolve completely.)
Do I want to show it off? (Appearance)
I always love showing off my sustainable swaps. As weird as it sounds, these are actually “prettier” than some other pods though. Believe it or not. I’ve recently been testing out a different brand of dish detergent pods and the non-Dropps pods have a yellow tint to them that’s a little off putting.
Even though Dropps does seem to take the lead with the nicer looking pod, I don’t think I’d take off any points for appearance here anyways. So Dropps gets five stars here as well.
Packaging
Dropps packaging is very minimal. Honestly, I wish more companies would ship like Dropps does. Your order might vary to a small degree, but in my experience shipments come like this: You have at least two boxes. One box is the outer shipping box. The inner “box” is actually what holds your detergent pods. And that’s it. That might vary depending on how many items your order and what quantity.
Dropps uses a recycle-friendly adhesive for their paper tape, their shipping labels are recyclable and compostable, and of course the cardboard is recyclable and compostable as well. They used to have some kind of pouch, but quickly switched to the cardboard boxes which is what I’ve always received.
What options do I have to buy?
Dropps offers 2 choices for the scents in their dish detergent pods. They have:
- Lemon
- Unscented
I have always used the unscented version of their pods. I’m just not a huge fan of scented dish detergents. Having my dishes smell “clean” or like lemon is just not something I care for. I’d prefer that my dishes smell like nothing, that just feels cleaner to me than an added scent.
Cost and Comparability
To save you some time, and so you don’t have to click a bunch on the Dropps site, I’ve done some math for you. If you don’t like numbers, tables, or math…I totally understand. If you want to skip all the numbers then go ahead and skip down to “Beware of Subscriptions.” If you want to see a comparison between Dropps and other popular brands, skip to Table 4. If you’d like to see how much each order option costs, the cost of a pod, and how Dropps compares to other pod prices then this is the section for you!
Cost Per Box
Table 1 has the 3 quantities you can order the Dropps dish detergent pods in (64, 120, and 180). There is an option for subscriptions, I cover that more in the next section. But for now, I’ve got the subscription and non-subscription cost covered as well. That gives you a total of 6 different options to choice from when ordering these.
Table 1.
| Quantity | 64 ct. | 120 ct. | 180 ct. |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Cost with Subscription (USD) |
$18.75 |
$30.00 |
$37.50 |
|
Cost without Subscription (USD) |
$25.00 |
$40.00 |
$50.00 |
Cost Per Pod
Now, the cost of the whole box is one thing. But how much does each pod cost? I’ve done that math for you too! I’ve broken it down for you below in Table 2. Each row and column directly corresponds to the table above as well. So, for example, if you purchase the 120 ct. box with a subscription for $30.00 then each pod will cost you $0.25. Or, one dishwasher cycle will cost 25 cents.
Table 2.
| Quantity | 64 ct. | 120 ct. | 180 ct. |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Cost Per Pod with Subscription (USD) |
$0.29 |
$0.25 |
$0.21 |
|
Cost Per Pod without Subscription (USD) |
$0.39 |
$0.33 |
$0.28 |
Competitor's Cost
I’ve put the competition in this next table, Table 3. To get these numbers I went to Walmart’s website and selected popular brands that were available in store on the day of writing. Under “Brand” I’ve included the full name for the product as it was listed on the website. Keep in mind that these numbers will vary from week to week as prices changes but they give you a good idea for how Dropps compares to popular brands in price.
Table 3.
| Brand | Pods Per Container | Total Cost (USD) | Cost Per Pod (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Cascade Platinum ActionPacs Dishwasher Detergent, Fresh Scent |
62 |
$16.97 |
$0.27 |
|
Cascade Complete Dishwasher Pods, Action Pacs Dishwasher Detergent Tabs, Fresh Scent |
63 |
$13.97 |
$0.22 |
|
Finish All in 1 Powerball 60ct, Deep Clean, Fresh Scent, Dishwasher Detergent Tablets |
60 |
$9.54 |
$0.16 |
|
Great Value Advanced Dishwasher Pacs, Fresh Scent, 12 Count |
12 |
$2.98 |
$0.25 |
Comparison
Finally, the final comparison. For the Dropps numbers, I’ve used the subscription values. I think that’s most likely the price that will apply to you and I explain why in the next section when I discuss how their subscription plans work.
Table 4.
| Brand | Dropps (64ct.) | Dropps (120ct.) | Dropps (180ct.) | Cascade Platinum | Cascade Complete | Finish | Great Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cost Per Pod |
$0.29 |
$0.25 |
$0.21 |
$0.27 |
$0.22 |
$0.16 |
$0.25 |
Results
If you only opt in for the 64 count from Dropps, then you’ll be shelling out the most money per pod. However, if you upsize to the 120 or even the 180 count then you end up in a very comparable price range. The two larger options for Dropps are equal to or cheaper than Great Value and Cascade Complete!
When I switched to Dropps, I actually was switching from Cascade Complete. Unless you’re switching from the Finish brand, then Dropps is likely to get you more bang for your buck. But that’s just thinking about price. If you value sustainability (I’m assuming you do because you’re here) then Dropps automatically takes the lead. The affordability of Dropps per pod is only icing on the cake.
Beware of Subscriptions
Before you add an item to your cart, you’re given the choice to be enrolled in a subscription. The subscription enrollment automatically gives you a 25% discount and you can cancel it whenever you’d like. You have the ability to choose refill shipments that ship at 1 through 6 month intervals, with 4 month intervals being their recommended selection.
You can also choose between 64, 120, and 180 pack sizes. I’m washing for 1 person, and only occasionally run more than one cycle a week. So 65 pods will definitely last me close to a year. Your needs are probably different. With their different size packs and variable shipments you have about 18 options to pick from for the subscription, which means there’s something for everyone.
If you consider that the pods last 2-3 years when stored right, you could definitely order more than you need, cancel the subscription, and minimize the amount of shipments you’d have to make. That’s generally the route I take.
Ingredients and Things
The EWG rates the lemon scented variety at a C. That’s pretty low and there are several ingredients of concern. If you’d like to see the full breakdown for the lemon pods, you can find that here on EWG’s website.
Unfortunately EWG doesn’t have anything listed for the unscented pods and I’m not experienced enough to comment on the ingredient list myself (maybe one day though).
Rather than copy and paste the ingredients to this blog post, check out the full list of ingredients here on the Dropps website. I recommend looking at the ingredients on the site directly rather than a blog post for several reasons. First, companies update formulas and change ingredients all the time. They will have the most accurate ingredient list for your order on their website.
Second, Dropps also provides an “ingredient disclosure” right below their ingredients list. That ingredient disclosure has a wealth of information. They provide access to a safety data sheet and also tell you when the disclosure was last updated. I’m writing this on November 28th, 2021 and the disclosure I’m reading was last updated September 20th, 2021. That’s pretty recent.
What makes this a sustainable choice?
The thing that drew me to Dropps originally was the lack of single-use plastic in their packaging. They use recyclable and compostable packaging which makes these great for a zero waste routine.
They also have carbon neutral shipping which is great when you’re factoring in carbon emissions and your carbon footprint.
Dropps emphasizes the sustainability of their ingredients, particularly when it comes to the sustainability of natural and synthetic scents. And even though the lemon pods didn’t get a great rating on EWG, the recommended alternatives were mainly from other “clean” and “green” brands. That tells me that Dropps pods are still a great choice even if they have room for improvement in the ingredient list.
Thanks for joining me today! If you liked this content and want to see more, please subscribe to my newsletter. You can do that here!
In case you didn’t catch my post about Dropps laundry detergent pods, you can check it out here.
Sustainably is supported by readers like you. When you buy through links on this site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links on our “Affiliate Marketing…” page.
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