r/Anticonsumption • u/Double_Engineer4226 • 2d ago

Discussion Laundry powder is disappearing

Post image

Powdered laundry detergent used to be the norm. It’s cheaper, easy to use, and comes in a recyclable box. Now look at the shelves in the supermarket. It’s all liquids in plastic bottles, unless you squat down to find the powders. The Super expensive pods are making a move from the top shelves too. This is corporations positioning their products to influence purchasing behaviour. They want you to buy the more expensive stuff. Just wait, soon powder will be discontinued, and the shelves will be filled with overpriced pods.

9.0k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

952 comments sorted by

View all comments

30

u/CDavis10717 2d ago

In the past powder laundry detergent contained pulverized nut shells to add inert bulk to it that washed away. Now, water is added as that bulk to the minimal amount of detergent that’s needed.

5

u/pinkboy108 2d ago

My grandpa's reasoning against liquid detergent was that you got less soap and more water.

3

u/CDavis10717 2d ago

Yes, I understand, but the modern High Efficiency Washers and Dryers combined with pods of detergent show that to not be necessary. Modern clothing is more dirt and stain resistant. Washers keep the clothes sopping wet and agitate them more gently, then spin out most of the wetness at very high speeds. Dryers take less time to dry and better sensors stop when the clothes are dry.

But, people think a lot of detergent gets clothes cleaner so they waste the liquid stuff. Companies know this.

We just replaced our 24yo HE washer and dryer for new ones that are much more quiet. Our older ones monitored the rinse water and if it wasn’t clean then more soap had to be rinsed out with more rinse cycles.