You buy organic food, you prioritize nontoxic skincare, and you make plastic-free swaps when you can. But what about laundry detergent? It’s one of the items you buy at the store and use hundreds of times a year, but it often goes unquestioned.
But laundry detergent ends up in two places: your clothes where they stay against your skin all day, and into our waterways, where they go every time you run a load.
At Loop, we believe what’s not inside is just as important as what is - which is why we’re breaking down what’s commonly found in conventional detergents, what those ingredients are doing and what to look for instead.
PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol)
This is probably the one ingredient that often gets overlooked - but it’s also one of the most significant. Although polyvinyl alcohol sounds like just another cleaning ingredient, it’s actually a petroleum-based plastic film that holds together laundry pods and sheets. It’s convenient, effective, but although it dissolves…it doesn’t disappear.
What happens instead is that PVA breaks into tiny particles that travel from the rinse cycle into the water system. Studies have found that a meaningful portion of those pva plastic particles pass straight through the water treatment plants and end up in our waterways as microplastic.
With more than 20 BILLION pods and sheets used every year, it’s something that at first seems small and inconsequential but is adding up quietly at an enormous scale, load after load.
Loop is 100% plastic-free and doesn’t contain any PVA. Our innovative formula is made with plant-based ingredients without the plastic waste.
Optical Brighteners
We often think of effective laundry detergent as “whitening and brightening” our clothes, but how that actually works may be different than what you think. Most detergents use something called optical brighteners. This is a chemical that doesn’t actually remove anything, but instead leaves a UV-reflective residue on your clothes that makes the fabric appear brighter. Your clothes aren’t actually cleaner, they just look brighter because what’s left behind on the fabric.
But here’s the catch, that residue doesn’t rinse out. It stays on the fabric after washing, which means it stays next to your skin throughout the day. It’s also one of the most common causes of contact dermatitis linked to laundry products.
Optical brighteners aren’t great for the environment either as they don’t easily break dow after they leave the washing machine. They end up accumulating in waterways and have even demonstrated toxicity to certain aquatic organisms at higher concentrations.³
The good news is that at Loop - we look to nature instead and use sodium percarbonate for brightening. This is a non-chlorine, oxygen-based cleaner that lifts stains and whitens fabrics through a chemical reaction that breaks down into water and oxygen. That means your clothes are actually cleaner, and not just a trick of light-reflecting residue.
Parabens
Parabens are commonly found in a variety of personal care and household cleaning products. It’s primary function is as a preservative to keep bacteria and mold from growing, which also helps extend the shelf life. For laundry detergent, it’s important to note that parabens are found more often in water-based products, since they are more naturally prone to grow bacteria or mold.
While parabens are effective at what they do, they can also be absorbed through the skin and find their way into your body. This is where it’s especially important for laundry detergent because any residue on your clothes stays in contact with your skin throughout the day.
Parabens are also endochrine disruptors. This means they can interfere with and mimic hormones in our body.
At Loop, we avoid parabens and use p-hydroxyacetophenone instead. It does the same job that parabens do but without the endocrine disruptors.
Ammonia
Ammonia is used in some conventional cleaning products as a grease cutter and overall general cleaning agent. For laundry detergents specifically, it typically is used as a cleaning booster - especially in heavy-duty stain removal products. The concern with ammonia is that it is a respiratory irritant, even at low levels, and it can also trigger symptoms in people with asthma.
For Loop, we use multiple plant-based enzymes to tackle tough stains. Each enzyme targets a specific type of stain instead of relying on harsh chemical additives.
Chlorine
Another common ingredient found in detergents is chlorine bleach because it’s effective for both whitening and disinfecting. But similar to ammonia, chlorine bleach is a respiratory irritant and can cause skin irritation as well.
It’s also harmful to the environment as well. When chlorine mixes with things like dirt, soil, and other organic matter in the wash water, it produces toxic disinfection by-products (DBPs) like dioxins that can negatively impact aquatic life and ecosystems
The good news is that Loop uses sodium percarbonate for brightening instead. This is a non-chlorine, oxygen-based cleaner that breaks down into water and oxygen after use.
How to Check Your Current Detergent
Here’s a short list of ingredients that you can use to spot check a laundry detergent and learn what
- PVA / polyvinyl alcohol / PVOH / ethenol homopolymer — present in most pods and sheets, rarely listed explicitly
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Optical brighteners or fluorescent whitening agents — look for stilbene derivatives or diaminostilbene disulfonic acid compounds on the label
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Parabens — look for methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, or butylparaben
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Ammonia or ammonium compounds — sometimes listed as ammonium chloride or quaternary ammonium compounds
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Sodium hypochlorite — the chemical name for chlorine bleach
Clean That Does More, With Less
We believe the products we use in our homes should be as safe as they are effective. Conventional detergents are often loaded with harsh chemicals and toxins that can irritate the skin, pollute waterways and linger on the clothes we wear.
And that’s why we created Loop, an innovative laundry care solution that’s as effective as it is intentional. Our plant-based formula lifts stains, preserves softness, and protects the fabrics that hold meaning in your life.
But for us, care goes beyond performance. It’s how we show up in your routine. No plastic, no mess, no compromise. Just a powerful plant-based and plastic-free clean in a compact tile that simplifies laundry while eliminating waste.
Because care for people and the planet shouldn’t be an afterthought. It should be built into our routines. And with Loop, it’s part of every wash.
