The Best Zero Waste and Non-Toxic Dish Soap Block

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If you are like me and strive to live a more natural life, you may be concerned about your dish soap. Let’s face it, certain soaps could be leaving a harmful residue on your dishes that you wouldn’t want anywhere near your family. That being said, let’s suds up some of the best zero waste and non-toxic dish soap blocks.

But first, two buzz words you might not be familiar with are zero waste and non toxic. Let me lay it out for you.

The goal of zero waste is, as the name says, to reduce your waste, particularly at the source. According to the EPA, this notion is made up of three main points: product creation, product use, and product disposal.

I am sure you are more familiar with the term reduce, reuse, recycle. Which mimics the same theory. Striving to be zero waste is avoiding excess materials (say packaging, for example), thus reducing the resources to make and dispose of said packaging.

By doing this you are not only saving resources, but reducing air, water, and land pollution as well.

Don’t get me wrong, the zero-waste concept is extremely hard to sustain 100%. But by consuming mindfully, your wallet, as well as, the planet as a whole will benefit.

Non-toxic living is choosing a more natural and holistic approach in our everyday lives. By doing this we minimize our exposure to harmful toxins in our personal care products, our clothing, our food, and just our stuff in general.

Generally speaking, the things we surround ourselves with are either helping us or harming us. Non-toxic products are a healthier, safer, and more sustainable option.

With very little regulation, it’s our job to keep ourselves and our families healthy and safe. That being said, let’s talk about the problem with conventional dish soap.

Conventional Dish Soaps

Conventional dish soap comes in a familiar plastic bottle, is always a fluorescent color, and is loaded with some pretty harmful chemicals. And while you might be satisfied with its ability to clean, you might not be happy to find out what exact it’s made of or what it’s leaving behind on your dishes.

One of the most well-known dish soap brands, that starts with a D, and seems to be everybody’s favorite, has a laundry list of scary ingredients. I am not going to get into that here, but read this article I found for some more information.

A list of toxic ingredients often found in dish soap include phosphates, triclosan, sodium lauryl sulfate, synthetic fragrances, chlorine, formaldehyde, and ammonia. Many of these ingredients are a known carcinogen, endocrine disruptor, or fertilizer that can cause a slue of health issues (to us and aquatic life).

Non-Toxic Dish Soap

Here is a list of non-toxic dish soap bars that are free from harsh chemicals, made with natural plant-based ingredients and come in a solid bar form to avoid excess packaging.

Tackle those dirty dishes with Meliora’s Castile Dish Soap. This soap uses coconut oil and sunflower oil as its base. With less than 5% being water, this is a super concentrated formula with a wonderful lather.

Get this in a 7 oz block. Easily recycle the cardboard box it’s packaged in.

Free from: No synthetic fragrances, dyes, optical brighteners, or preservatives

One of the first brands to produce a dish washing block was No Tox Life. Hundreds of happy customers have been convinced to give up their plastic bottles for this all purpose cleaner.

This plant-based formula is concentrated to be long lasting – equivalent to 3 bottles of your normal dishwashing liquid. Its coconut oil base allows you to conquer the greasiest dishes.

The typical bar size is 6 oz but my favorite is the jumbo 22.5 oz bar. People will be genuinely shocked when they see that thing sitting on your counter (believe me).

Free from: palm-oil, sulfate and parabens, preservatives, fragrances

SWEET OKOLE SOAP is another great option. Owner Jess has created a low-waste personal care store on Etsy. Always free from toxic chemicals, Jess focuses her ingredients on botanicals. Handmade in Hawaii, this unscented non-toxic dish soap is the perfect addition to your eco-friendly kitchen.

Ingredients include saponified coconut, soybean, olive oil, castor oil, and citric acid. Plus, all recyclable packaging.

Free from: SLS, SLES, parabens or other preservatives, pthalates, synthetic fragrances, lakes/dyes

Unearth Malee is a Thai-Asian infused Etsy page that specializes in handmade soaps. Inspired by herbal medicine and Thai recipes, these soaps are made with certified organic ingredients and never any palm oil.

Her solid dish soap only contains 6 plant-derived ingredients, including olive oil, and has a natural scent of lime and eucalyptus. This soap cuts grease and is gentle on the most sensitive skin (no skin irritation).

Free from: synthetic fragrances, preservatives, palm oil, harmful chemicals

The next soap that will give you super clean dishes is from Etsy shop Honey Wild Apothecary’s. Hard to tell from the picture, but this massive soap block is 21 oz’s of pure biodegradable ingredients. It has a strong lather and a subtle natural fragrance that comes from natural essential oils.

This non-toxic dish soap is made with sodium hydroxide (lye), organic coconut oil, zested lime, organic lime essential oil, organic castor oil, and organic orange essential oil. This block alone can last you up to a year!

Free from: additives, artificial fragrances, synthetic preservative

Maintaining the health and beauty of our planet should be our top priority. We only have one. Planet Earth provides us with everything we need to survive. And we should return the favor.

You can reduce your environmental impact and carbon footprint by choosing a natural product, free from plastic packaging. These are some of the best eco-friendly dish soaps made with natural ingredients and are free from plastic waste.

Read more on natural cleaning products

As a tip use the EWG (environmental working group) website to help you choose better personal care products (like non-toxic dish soap or laundry detergent) in the future.