Tree Hugging Family - Living Green

59 opinions for Greenwash: Palmolive eco+ Gel Dishwasher Detergent

• Jennifer
  Mar 25, 2008 at 3:36 pm

  Big day for lame cleaning news. The survey by the cleaning industry, now this, what is wrong with people? Plus that stupid screen shot of the waterfall, come on. Not to mention that Colgate tests on animals. Yup, they’re so very “eco-friendly”.

• Peggy
  Mar 25, 2008 at 5:25 pm

  Oh, you reminded me that I need to do a post about the little bunny symbol that’s on real cruelty-free products.

• Steve-O
  Mar 25, 2008 at 10:42 pm

  Just passing through, but just thought you might like to know that regular Palmolive dish washing detergant also contains chlorine bleach. (I am looking at both labels right now) So at least with the “Eco” you are without the phosphates.

  From what I hear, 7th Gen does a horrible job at cleaning. Not sure about other alternatives.

• Peggy
  Mar 25, 2008 at 11:40 pm

  Stevo-O,

  Maybe I’m too defensive of the word “eco,” but I believe it should be earned. The word doesn’t belong on a product that contains chlorine bleach. I’m glad Palmolive is eliminating phosphates in one of their products, but they should just call it phosphate-free. There are lots of products out there like this that don’t paint themselves earth-friendly just because they don’t have phosphates.

  Am I being unreasonable? I hope not.

  I actually picked up a box of Seventh Gen today. I’m going to try it out for myself.

  Thanks for stopping by.

• Jennifer
  Mar 26, 2008 at 4:09 am

  Steve-O it’s not going to help the planet, or health of people much if we constantly do “at least” what we can. Especially when we’re a big company, like Colgate who can really afford advertising, and might be able to persuade folks to go green. “At least” is pretty weak argument when their are companies who do “the most” they can.

  I like 7th gen. I’ve used it (many different products) and never had an issue.

• Peggy
  Mar 26, 2008 at 4:29 am

  Jennifer, I was thinking along those same lines earlier tonight when I discussed this with Michael. He thinks I’m picking on Palmolive, but I agree with you. They can afford to do more. Now, 7th Gen and similar smaller brands have to compete with this greenwash. It’s not really fair.

  Actually, sometimes I think it may be easier to just hand wash dishes! Then, you don’t have to worry about food being left on plates or a film on dishes and a rinse aid and all that. Plus, the dishwasher in my apartment is SO loud. I miss the nice Maytag I bought for my house before I sold it. I want it back. Think they would mind?

  Good night all. I will do a review of 7th Gen dishwasher detergent soon.

• Paul
  Mar 26, 2008 at 11:14 pm

  Just stumbled on this page, but honestly, I have to go with Steve-O on this one. My friends have tried the no chlorine products (7th, Ecover, etc.) and they just don’t work. And Method also claims to be a natural brand, but they have plenty of non-natural stuff in their products (and people seem to love them). I don’t know, I’m going to try this eco+ stuff. It may not save the world, but it’s a lot closer than the rest of the mainstream products (and with any luck it will actually clean dishes).

• Peggy
  Mar 26, 2008 at 11:46 pm

  Paul,
  I have heard the mixed reviews on 7th Gen. auto dishwasher powder and gel. I find it odd that it stays on the shelves if it doesn’t work though. Someone must like it. I’m actually running my first load with this detergent now.

  I suppose if you feel you have only two choices — the stuff with phosphate and bleach or just the stuff with chlorine bleach, then obviously it’s better to go with the stuff without phosphates. I’m hopeful there’s a better solution that will work for many people.

  As for Method, I don’t believe they carry automatic dishwasher tablets anymore. All I could find is the hand wash stuff, which I use now.

  Thanks for stopping by Paul. I hope you return.

• Sarah
  Mar 27, 2008 at 10:22 am

  I’ve been using Seventh Generation dishwashing gel for several months now, and my dishes come out perfectly clean. They have one that’s lemon scented in case you like the smell of the toxic versions. For crying out loud, run a sponge over your crusted dishes before you put them in the dishwasher! A little elbow grease has never harmed the planet or the health of our families!!!

• Peggy
  Mar 27, 2008 at 11:32 am

  Sarah,

  I have the Free & Clear version of the Sev. Gen. dishwasher powder. I love it. Look for my review tomorrow.

  Thanks for stopping by. It was refreshing. : )

• Shelli
  Mar 27, 2008 at 4:17 pm

  Just ran across this thread, so thought I’d leave a note. I use the Ecover dishwasher tablets, they work pretty well. I tried the 7th Generation a few years ago, but it didn’t work very well at that time. Whole Foods has Restore which I’m going to try next. I like the concept because you can bring the containers back and just get a refill, less packaging.

• Peggy
  Mar 27, 2008 at 4:50 pm

  Shelli,

  I don’t live very close to a Whole Foods, but I do go there a few times a year. I think a 20-minute drive to the grocery store is a little much if I have options just next door.

  I’ll have to check out Restore. Thanks for telling us about it.

• Noel
  Apr 11, 2008 at 9:42 pm

  “For crying out loud, run a sponge over your crusted dishes before you put them in the dishwasher! A little elbow grease has never harmed the planet or the health of our families!!!”

  While I agree with you in principle, Sarah, you do know that you use more water “prewashing” dishes. That isn’t great either.

• Liz
  Apr 15, 2008 at 3:19 pm

  Ok, so I was frantically running thru the supermarket with 3 young (tired, hungry) children and bought this product. I was a little surprised when I got home and saw it had bleach. Oh well. I wish someone would come out with a cheap alternative to the toxic stuff, I can’t always afford 7th generation or Ecover, and I don’t think Shaklee is all that great–even when I run a sponge over the dishes ; ). So, if anyone knows a CHEAP safe dishwasher detergent for a CHEAP mom, please, post it and I’ll check back. (Toilet bowl cleaners wanted too!!!!)

  Thanks.

• Jennifer
  Apr 16, 2008 at 9:51 pm

  @Noel that’s why I always tell people to rinse their dishes once, right when they finish eating. The issue I think with water waste and prewashing is that people wait. If you wait, your dishes get crusty and need more water than just a quick rinse. Another way to do this without wasting water (or so much) is to fill your sink and let the dishes soak for an hour. Which is a lot less water wasted than rinsing for a long while.

• Jennifer
  Apr 16, 2008 at 9:53 pm

  @Liz we’re going to start trying to feature some money saving green products and issues around cheap vs. expensive green items. I’ll have some posts up starting Friday April 16th about this.

• Dee Dee
  Apr 17, 2008 at 11:57 am

  I HATE the Palmolive Eco gel. My dishes have the worst film on them I have ever seen! I’m going back to cascade!

• Jon
  Apr 21, 2008 at 12:45 pm

  Chlorine gas in excessive amounts is not good to breath. But, as I understand it chlorine bleach does not damage the water supply and is actually in all of the water we drink in trace amounts to kill bacteria. I bought some of this detergent and one would not even know there is chlorine in it based on the smell, and I am sensitive to those things. I like having bleach in the detergent to kill germs, so for me it is not an issue.

• Jennifer
  Apr 21, 2008 at 1:10 pm

  @Jon actually there are many problems with Chlorine use. http://www.wvu.edu/~exten/infores/pubs/fypubs/wl314.pdf

  There’s one article about the research - but many more exist. Some think we should ban it all together. Of course some don’t but even the EPA who ok’s all sort of icky pesticides thinks we should aim for non-use.

• Sarah
  Apr 25, 2008 at 11:46 am

  I understand your outrage at the liberal use of the word “eco” on a product that contains a harmful chemical in it, however I do think that the removal of phosphates from their dishwasher detergent is a sign of change. Sometimes change is slow and just one baby step at a time. We should not be content to stop here, but we also should be happy and continue to encourage the removal of all harmful chemicals from cleaning products.

• michelle
  May 6, 2008 at 2:55 pm

  I disagree with Jon, I also bought this product and I am going to return it today!!! As soon as I poured it I could smell the toxins then the artificial lemon scent to cover the toxins….. well, I’m assuming thats why they add the scent unless of course you or your guest really care about the way your dishes smell. I tried the Ecover lavender gel and it worked great. It costs a little more but you can go online and print up eco friendly coupons for all kinds of items. good job everyone & good luck!

• Peggy
  May 6, 2008 at 3:37 pm

  Thanks for your comment Michelle.

  I’m using 7th Gen right now, but I’m going to try Ecover next.

• Jennifer
  May 6, 2008 at 4:52 pm

  I used to use nothing but Ecover, and I really liked it - the dishsoap that is. It’s a good price too.

• hope
  May 10, 2008 at 2:45 pm

  Seventh Gen didn’t do very well. I really like Ecover. Biokleen is kind of weird. It’s been leaving some white residue on my dishes. I really WANT to like Seventh Gen… we use their diapers and wipes and they rock!

• Peggy
  May 10, 2008 at 3:47 pm

  Hope, Ecover is good too.

• Rebecca
  May 29, 2008 at 1:35 pm

  Okay–this is what I find so frustrating when I read all these comments. Any time a large company tries to do something green–people come back and say “well that’s not green enough for me” and then start disparging the product for a range of reasons, some perhaps better than others. Then they start saying–I’m not going to use that product. I think Palmolive is trying to make a step in the right direction for the planet. They may not be making every possible step they can–but it is a national brand that is available all over–and it is being sold at a price point that is similar or less than other leading national brands. So hopefully many more people will chose to start using a phosphate free version for their dishwashers. Calling it Eco is a short-handed way of saying this is a better choice. If they simply said phosphate free most people wouldn’t have a clue what the greater meaning held and wouldn’t necessarilyb e drawn to it on the shelf I used Palmolive for years because the amount of phosphates it contained was about half the amount of Cascade–and it could be obtained easily. Its great that people use Seventh Generation and it decreases their impact on the planet–but not everyone is going to be able to do the same due to availability and price point. With a much bigger brand comes a much bigger total impact on the environment. But if the people who consider themselves green have to smack talk about every new national product that tries to make a lesser impact on the environment–those companies may go back to “screw you green types–you don’t appreciate what we do” and then once again the product will be pulled because no one would try it.

• Peggy
  May 29, 2008 at 2:02 pm

  Rebecca,

  I think most people are smart enough to know that “phosphate-free” is good. Put XXX-free on anything and most people know that you don’t want whatever that thing is.

  The problem I have with this product is that it’s misleading. They should list their ingredients!

  And products like Ecover and 7G are becoming increasingly available and will hopefully make the national brands clean up their acts. If the smaller companies can afford it, Palmolive sure can.

• Jennifer
  May 29, 2008 at 2:39 pm

  @Rebecca, you say, “Any time a large company tries to do something green–people come back and say “well that’s not green enough for me” and then start disparging the product for a range of reasons”

  We don’t attack large companies for the sake of attacking large companies. We’re pointing out that this company is misleading consumers. The product contains bleach, and if you’re going to say you’re an eco product, and then contain a toxic item like bleach, it’s just plain lame.

  We also don’t like small companies that do this though - the only reason (to me) that it seems worse when a large company does it, is because they have a larger consumer pull. Palmolive has the means, and consumer base to create real change, instead of simply greenwashing.

  Yeah, it’s cool and all when large companies attempt to go greener, but it seems like not enough, when smaller companies can do better.

  Also, if Palmolive pulls their product (which I highly doubt will happen) that’s fine with me. Bleach is no good for families. One less bleach product on the market isn’t going to make me depressed or make me feel bad for a company.

• Carrie
  Jun 20, 2008 at 1:44 pm

  I’ve tried using 7th Gen, Meyer’s, and Bio-Kleen and ALL end up leaving film on my glasses and not getting them fully clean. The longer I use the products, the worse it gets. I even use a rinse-aid of vinegar/water, which is supposed to take care of that. This is on a brand-new, Energy Star dishwasher to boot!
  I have NO desire to use toxic cleaners (we don’t use them anywhere else in the house), but I am SO tired of having dirty glasses and dishes. It isn’t saving anything if I have to pre-wash (though, I always do a very quick, pre-rinse), or if I have to wash the same things over and over hoping to get them clean.
  I’m tired of giving company a glass to drink out of that doesn’t look clean - heck, I’m tired of drinking out of them myself!
  As much as I really loathe it, I think I am going to try this Palmolive stuff to see if it works. At least it is phosphate free, even if it does have chlorine in it. (blech)
  I wish someone could make something that truly worked.

• debbie
  Jul 3, 2008 at 11:11 pm

  I’ve started using this eco-friendly palmolive gel and my glasses and silverware are looking horrible. The eating utensils especially. It looks foggy and it’s hard to scrub off. i’ve been using for 2 weeks and the know I have to scrub to the silverware daily.

• Peggy
  Jul 4, 2008 at 1:22 am

  Carrie and Debbie, check out my review of Ecover dishwasher tablets. I didn’t see a film at all with it.
  http://www.treehuggingfamily.com/green-review-ecover-automatic-dishwasher-tablets/

• james
  Aug 9, 2008 at 9:50 am

  We bought palmolive gel dishwashing ECO + and our dishes are all left with a chaulky-whitish looking film. this is most evident in our glass tumblers and eating utensils. black rubber spatulas also look very chalkish-wihte and looks terrible.

  we are going back to the other brands.

• Paul
  Aug 23, 2008 at 12:50 pm

  OK — now I’m worried. I just bought the Eco+ gel yesterday at Target. The Eco+ price was excellent and the 7th Generation powder was 1.) too expensive, and 2.) I don’t recall consumer reports ever giving it good ratings. So I figured I can at least try it. Now reading the postings online, and on epinions (terrible reports!) however, I’m concerned about all these reports of “damaged” dishes and glasses. Something about white spots and film that is very tough/impossible to get off. Does anyone have an idea if this is true? Was there ever a plain Palmolive “Eco” gel and this product is “Eco+” which may have been improved?

  Or do the problems affect the “+” formula also?

  For anyone who has had the problems, do you have very hard water? What kind of dishwasher?

  I certainly don’t want to damage my (Ikea, HA!) dishes or my dishwasher (Bosch, not so funny), but I want to give the product a chance before tossing it.

• Paul
  Aug 23, 2008 at 12:52 pm

  One thing for anyone interested, Consumer Reports a year or so ago rated Trader Joes dishwasher detergent as very good (its rating has gone down since, but still good), and it has no phosphate and is inexpensive. Just a tip.

• Peggy
  Aug 23, 2008 at 5:04 pm

  Paul, that plus sign after the Eco was just a marketing thing. This is Palmolive’s first “eco” detergent. That white film is most likely due to not using a rinse aid. Phosphates are popular because they help rinse dishes, and water hardness has a lot to do with whether you’ll experience the film.

  Adding some vinegar to the rinse cycle should help you avoid any white residue. If you’re concerned, why not just return the product? I would…

  I’ve used Ecover, which is bleach and phosphate free without any white film. I’ve used other phosphate-free detergents that did create a white film, but it wasn’t permanent.

• Barbara
  Aug 27, 2008 at 4:23 pm

  I was just about to try the new Palmolive, because I have been using the old version with phosphate until now. Years ago, I used Ecover powder, and wasn’t sure about using the tablets when they originally switched. I think it’s because we ran an “Energy Saving” single-wash cycle, filling only 1 dispenser, and the instructions said you had to fill both dispensers. It was a long time ago so I’m not sure. I started trying different phosphate-free brands (7th Gen, Trader Joe’s). I think the 7th Gen permanently etched some crystal glasses that were fine with the old Ecover powder, and the Trader Joe’s left a milky film on the rest of the glasses. I gave up and went to the lowest-phosphate conventional detergent I could find.

  More recently, my sister has been experimenting, and found that one detergent (I don’t remember which) was etching some of the design off the coffee mugs. Her husband wasn’t too happy because some of them are irreplaceable souvenir mugs. I was wondering whether anybody has noticed this problem with Ecover?

• Peggy
  Aug 27, 2008 at 5:08 pm

  Hi Barbara. I have review on Ecover tabs here
  http://www.treehuggingfamily.com/green-review-ecover-automatic-dishwasher-tablets/

  I didn’t experience etching or loss of designs on mugs. Ecover also makes a rinse aid, or you could try adding vinegar. I only use one tab per load.

  You may be better off washing crystal and china by hand. Most detergents (even green ones) warn that these items could be damaged in the dishwasher.

• Andrea
  Sep 4, 2008 at 8:52 pm

  I had a Melaleuca membership for a number of years and always loved their Diamond Brite dishwasher detergent. No phosphates, no bleach and my glasses don’t have that rainbow effect or etching. I do have a rinse aid dispenser in my dishwasher which might help with its effectiveness. Since relinquishing my membership, I have tried Seventh Generation and it just doesn’t work as well…While Diamond Brite isn’t exactly cheap, it was certainly well worth the money, in my opinion, for a product that is truly environmentally friendly and works. I just don’t like that I have to keep bugging my friend to order it for me…

• Peggy
  Sep 5, 2008 at 3:26 am

  Andrea, I’ve never heard of Diamond Brite, but if it requires a membership I probably wouldn’t buy it either. I’m using Ecover right now and it works the best for me among the green detergents I’ve tried.

  I’m certainly open to trying others that are easy to buy.

  I ordered the Ecover in bulk from Amazon. I can only find it locally at Wild Oats, which is a drive for me.

• Andrea
  Sep 11, 2008 at 2:27 pm

  I tried the Ecover and I love it! I think it works much better than Seventh Generation. I was a bit skeptical because they are hard powder tablets and I was hoping to find a gel, but it works great!
  Thank you for the recommendation!

• Peggy
  Sep 11, 2008 at 6:50 pm

  Andrea, you’re welcome! I’m so glad I could help and that you like Ecover. : )

• Leigh
  Sep 17, 2008 at 5:45 pm

  I recently bought a new home and bought the lemon echo. At first I thought that our dishwasher had issues as the utensils were covered in baked on soap. I felt very jipped by our home inspector because I thought he would have caught a faulty dishwasher. At any rate we found a few issues with the old dishwasher and decided to upgrade. Now that I have a new dishwasher the soap is still being left behind and baked to all of my utensils. Not as bad but I still have residue on everything. I have tried limiting the amount of dish detergent and I always scrub my plates and utensils before I run a load. No matter what I do I still have an issue. Now I am starting to think that I wasted money on a new dish wahser because it was the detergent all along. I am going to go back to my origianl dish detergent and I will let you know the outcome. At this point I am very unthrilled with the product. Althought my new dishwasher is very quiet! Today I ran a load and found my utensils and other items covered in the echo soap so I decided to run a load with no soap and when I opened the door to check things out mid cycle the floor of the dishwasher was covered in residual soap left behind in the first cleaning.

• Inquisitive Robin » Blog Archive » Eco Palmolive
  Oct 18, 2008 at 3:47 pm

  [...] so green.  It contains bleach.  According to this article, which was posted back in March (if only we had read it then!), it’s no good!  They [...]

• Liz
  Nov 12, 2008 at 8:23 pm

  I am on my 3rd (and last) bottle of Echo palmolive. It worked great at first but now I am getting film and white spots on everything, which I am assuming is dried bleach (and based on the comments here, not our dishwasher). The price of it is great, but the white residue on everything is not. So, off to try something else. Tried seventh generation dishwasher stuff before and did not think it worked well. Unfortunately, it is a bit cost prohibitive for my budget, so I will need to look to other options.

• leapfrog
  Nov 29, 2008 at 12:34 pm

  Fun thread! We’d had great results for years with the Trader Joe’s stuff, but ran out and tried the Eco+. Also offended by the greenwash, also got the white film — and with our soft water, too. Took it back for bad performance. Now trying 1T borax + 1T baking soda. Very cheap/simple. Seems to work fine; the white film washed off. So did baked-on pumpkin pie.

• Gigi
  Dec 10, 2008 at 5:40 pm

  Hey all-
  i bought palmolive eco+ with high expectations. its the worst detergent ive ever had. it leaves my dishes dirty, with a thick white film all over my clear glasses. worst of all are my metal pots and pans whose white film does not scrub off. i called palmolive (number in the back of the bottle) and commented on how disgusted i was with the “eco” product. they offered to give me my money back or a coupon for another palmolive product. try and call them, they were extremely friendly. now i just need help choosing a different/safe detergent.

• Cam
  Feb 7, 2009 at 7:01 am

  Vinegar works for me to keep items from coming out cloudy. I just open the door in the rinse cycle and “glug” some in!

• Bill
  Apr 6, 2009 at 8:27 am

  Palmolive eco Dish Soap:
  Worst I ever used.
  75 oz. Trashed - will never use again.

• Jordan
  Apr 21, 2009 at 2:08 pm

  I usually buy the 7th gen powder dishwasher detergent and I’ve always been happy with it. I recently moved to a new state and could only find the 7th gen d. powder at the local co-op and it was SO expensive. I asked my local Target to stock it (they stock everything else 7th gen, as well as Method..but no dishwashing detergent…argh!), but in the meanwhile I was forced to buy the lesser of the evils. Thus, I chose the Eco+. WHAT A MISTAKE! This stuff is HORRIBLE! I’m using up the bottle b/c I don’t want to waste it, but I will NEVER recommend it to anyone. My dishes come out covered in a white film. It’s gross.
  I just ordered more 7th gen from drugstore.com. Their prices were great and I bought enough stuff ($30 worth) to get a free sample bag of eco and animal friendly products. A win-win situation!!

• Terri Ritz
  Apr 29, 2009 at 5:25 am

  The Palmolive eco phosphate free gel dishwasher soap is horrible! I will not buy it again. All of my pots and pans silverware dishes glasses you name it have white streaks on them. It looks like my dishes are dirty….. Never had this problem before trying this product. Can’t wait until the bottle is done.

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• I like it, I really like it! « Resplendent Life
  May 7, 2009 at 4:16 am

  [...] I google’d that particular product and find out that it is a fraud! They label it eco-friendly because it is phosphate free but it still contains chlorine bleach. You [...]

• Kat
  May 8, 2009 at 1:40 pm

  It is horrible that products are being marketed as “ECO” friendly but still has bleach and other harmful chemicals in it!!

  I’m glad i found a company that actually provides great cleaning and personal care products with no chemicals or phosphates!

• JoAnn
  May 14, 2009 at 8:50 am

  I have read all of your comments and I can tell you that the “Sun Light” dishwasher detergent is the best I have ever used. It is a little cheaper at Walmart and does a fantastic job on my dishes.

• Andrea
  May 15, 2009 at 9:41 am

  Just read JoAnn’s post about Sun Light…do you know if this has chlorine? I have been using the Ecover with great success (for those unhappy with it, I do use JetDry in the rinse dispenser…perhaps that helps?). I tried BioKleen, but had the same white residue as was mentioned in another post. I would try Sun Light as it is probably easier to find than Ecover. I have to go to a special store for it as I’ve only found it in one place so far.
  Just curious…thanks!

• Kat
  May 15, 2009 at 10:10 am

  Sun Light - Contains Chlorine Bleach And Sodium Silicate per online information.

  I do know of products that are truely ECO friendly, do you want more info?

• JoAnn
  May 15, 2009 at 11:31 am

  Well, even if it does have chlorine bleach and sodium silicate in it, it rinses off in the hot water and my dishes sparkle and we have not been sick since using it and that has been for 8 years. I don’t have to use the Jet-Dry either. I really like it.

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