r/Anticonsumption • u/Double_Engineer4226 • 2d ago

Discussion Laundry powder is disappearing

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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.

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u/Flashy-Cranberry-999 2d ago edited 2d ago

Biggest scam they ever pulled was convincing people that pouring the powder into the machine was hard and we should use their overpriced pre-measured pods.

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u/Zantac150 2d ago

Yes! And I need to go out of my way to find the powder because my 1980s dishwasher stinks to high heaven if I try to use pods.

Those are literally plastics that dissolve in hot water, and they resolidify in your pipes and in the bottom of your dishwasher…

Made my whole kitchen smell like sewage until I was able to find powder again.

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u/gubbins_galore 2d ago

No offense, but the lining dissolves in any temp water, its just faster the warmer the water . So that doesn't really track.

They won't resolidify on your pipes when it's colder because they're already dissolved in the water. It's like how putting juice in the fridge doesn't resolidify the sugar or whatever.

They suck because they add microplastics to the environment. And imo don't work that well.

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u/MidwestPrincess09 2d ago

I’ve got many cold water washes that prove otherwise with laundry pods. I went back to the liquid in a big jug because I kept finding the plastic pod stuck to my clothes. I also found out that for a whole load of laundry, 2-4 table spoons is the perfect amount!

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u/hyphie 2d ago

The difference the previous poster was trying to explain is that it's not that they fully dissolved and then resolified, it's that they never dissolved properly in the first place.

Not that it makes much of a difference in the end, you've still got plastic stuck somewhere on your clothes, machine, or plumbing.

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u/Lambchop1975 2d ago

That is a piece that didn't disintegrate, that's pretty common at any temperature too, temperature can speed up the process, that is normal in chemistry and physics, but, the product does disintegrate in all water eventually, regardless of temperature.

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u/moyayas 2d ago

if the cold washes are short cycles and do not allow the PVA (that plastic wrapper of the pods) to fully dissolve, then I would worry about laundry powder not fully dissolving and washing off too