Safely Everyday Laundry Detergent Review 2021 | Eco-friendly, refillable laundry detergent
The Top Line: Unfortunately Safely Everyday Laundry Detergent is not a buy. While we love the beautiful packaging, there were a number of issues for us: the heavy, floral scent (which some may like), the high price point, difficult to use bottle, and the not so zero-waste product (not biodegradable, refills come in plastic packaging, liquid means heavier transport).
The Breakdown:
Cost & Products: $14.00 for 30 medium sized loads, or $12.60 if you subscribe.
How ‘Clean’ Is This? Refillable bottle, concentrated formula. However, refills still come in plastic packaging, and liquid formula means heavier, less eco-friendly transport.
Packaging: Recyclable cardboard box. Plastic bottle made with 10% PCR.
Purchasing & Shipping: We purchased on Safely’s website.
Good to know: You can subscribe to receive 10% off!
What’s Your Impact? Traditional liquid laundry detergents are usually packaged in high density polyethylene. 68% of these bottles are not recycled and contribute to the approximately 275 metric tons of plastic waste that goes into our oceans and waterways annually. A family of 4 would typically go through 5-6 plastic jugs of laundry detergent (that can be used for 64 loads) over the course of a year.
In this case there is still plastic packaging in the refill pouches but a lot less than in plastic jugs. However, there are more eco-friendly options in detergents that come in a pod or sheet format given it’s much lighter shipping.
The Experience
Context: We have tried many laundry pods and powders, and currently fairly happy with Dropps and Meliora options!
While the scent was nice, it was a bit too heavy and floral for our taste.
We ran a few loads of laundry with Safely Everyday Laundry Detergent, happy to confirm everything came out nice and clean!
Beautiful, refillable container (it really is gorgeous), but not the easiest to use. We had a tough time with the bottle — the measuring cap did not rinse off super easily, so we ended up with a very soapy bottle that we had to rinse off a few times after using. Certainly not as easy to use as pods or strips, or even Method’s laundry detergent where you pump directly from the bottle.
Overall, we did not think this laundry detergent was for us.
The Cost
There are A LOT of options out there for laundry — we compiled concentrated liquid, powder, sheet and pod options for comparison with Safely Everyday Laundry Detergent. The closest comps are probably Grove Collaborative’s Ultra Concentrated Liquid and Method Concentrated Laundry Detergent.
We estimate that each bottle of Safely Everyday Laundry Detergent will yield up to 30 medium sized laundry loads, and a typical family of four probably generates between 8 and 10 loads of laundry per week.
Other brands included in the comparison analysis below include Beyond Laundry Sheets, Tru Eath Laundry Sheets, Meliora, Dropps, Gain, Method, Seventh Generation:
Money Report: Safely Everyday Laundry Detergent is an expensive option when compared to other eco-friendly concentrated liquid detergents, and when compared with laundry detergents of different formats.
The Good:
✔ Ease of use - no messes or spilling
✔ pH balanced, gentle formula
✔ Coconut-oil-derived surfactants, plant-based surfactants, and natural enzymes fight stains
✔ Beautiful, refillable container (it really is gorgeous)
The Bad:
✗ They don’t tell you how many loads in a bottle on the website! The label says “up to 40 loads” but based on a medium sized load, we would estimate 30 loads per bottle
✗ We had a tough time with the bottle — the measuring cap did not rinse off super easily, so we ended up with a very soapy bottle that we had to rinse off a few times after using. Certainly not as easy to use as pods or strips, or even Method’s laundry detergent where you pump directly from the bottle.
✗ Ingredient is longer than we’d like (especially when compared to other laundry detergent brands) but we did not find anything alarming. We did see Benzisothiazolinone on the list which can be an irritant according to EWG.
✗ While commendable that it comes with refill pouches when you subscribe, it’s still much heavier and use plastic packaging, when compared to pods and sheets options
✗ The scent is a little too heavy and floral for our taste (but other customers seem to like it when we read their reviews!)
✗ This stuff is pricey!!
Our Recommendation: Unfortunately Safely Everyday Laundry Detergent is not a buy. While we love the beautiful packaging, there were a number of issues for us: the heavy, floral scent (which some may like), the high price point, difficult to use bottle, and the not so zero-waste product (not biodegradable, refills come in plastic packaging, liquid means heavier transport).
We're on a mission to reduce our personal carbon footprint with small, hopefully easy, changes in our home to fight against climate change. This means we're looking for products that may be all natural, ideally zero waste, reusable or compostable -- while still being affordable!
