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Dissolvable Plastic | Should We Use it in Our Products?

When we develop products, we stick to these 3 principles:

  1. It has to biodegrade (that means it will decompose into reusable nutrients)
  2. It has to have an eco certification (meaning the ingredients that make our products are 3rd party accredited, so they are best in class for you and our planet)
  3. It’s gotta be plastic free (both to reduce the carbon footprint and, again, to biodegrade)

When we started developing our plastic free liquid dish soap, we wrestled with what plastic alternatives we could use to store it.

The first option we explored was PVOH, PVA, or PVAL - otherwise known as Polyvinyl alcohol.  

PVA/PVOH gained popularity with Dishwasher pods and has since been used to contain a variety of Dishwasher, Laundry detergents and Shampoos for a number of ‘eco brands’, including both 'pods' and also 'laundry sheets', which are becoming increasingly popular.  

PVA/PVOH is technically 'plastic' because it is pliable - bendy and stretchy - but it's not the same plastic as a plastic bag because of what happens to it when it contacts water.

Many companies claim PVA/PVOH is ‘biodegradable’, but when we started digging deeper, this ‘eco-claim’ wasn't so cut and dry.

Why?

PVOH DOESN’T ‘BIODEGRADE’ IT ‘DISSOLVES’

In our research, PVOH does not biodegrade so much as it dissolves into a "non-harmful" monomer, and while those molecules can biodegrade, the time it takes for them to actually biodegrade is a little foggy.  Years, decades, 100 years or more?  Our research wasn't able to provide any conclusive timelines. 

Advocates for PVOH say this is not a problem and it’s a lot better than having mounds of 'solid' plastic floating around the ocean, but it still is leaving ‘something’ behind.  We just don't yet know the impact - if any - of having increasing amounts of these molecules floating around our waterways.  That said, our research to date does not suggest that those molecules are what we you would think of as 'micro-plastics'.

PVOH IS OIL BASED = NOT CARBON NEUTRAL

The other challenge with PVOH is that it is derived from petrochemicals (oil based and therefore against dev principal 2).  That said, right now, it's really hard to avoid petrochemicals - hence why we are in the climate crisis we are currently in - because even most 'plant based' cleaners (including our own) contain small amounts of petrochemicals.  

 

WHY BEESWAX PODS?

Given the unknowns about biodegradation, long term impacts and the reliance on petrochemicals, we chose not to use PVA/PVOH and instead developed our own pod made from all natural materials.  Materials we were already familiar with from our other products - beeswax, soy wax and naturally occurring oils and resins.


What’s great about natural materials is that you don’t need a pile of research to figure out if they decompose - you can just toss them in the earth and know they'll go away.

BUT THERE'S A FLIP SIDE TO OUR BEESWAX PODS
  1. They cost more: R&D is time consuming and expensive.  We are still in the early stages of developing our pods and there are many improvements to be made - both from the design/materials and the manufacturing - and so that means we can't make them as cheaply as their PVA/PVOH counterparts.
  2. There is still 'waste': While the pods are natural and they can be repurposed, reused and composted, there is still 'waste' left behind.  PVOH on the other hand just dissolves.

When it comes to 'price', we did come up with a work around through the Plastic Free Club, but we feel that if we really want to make a change, we need to hit the MASSES and that requires a major drop in the price.  

And this has led us back to a core question.  Should we re-visit PVA/PVOH?

It’s definitely a step forward from traditional plastic, and we're already exploring an improvement that could see a similar film made without oil, but that is a couple years out (at best).  In the meantime, we are left deciding:

SHOULD WE CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OUR OWN ‘WAX SOAP-PODS’ OR SHOULD WE INCORPORATE PVOH?  JOIN THE CONVERSATION, COMMENT BELOW.

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Comments

  • No dissolvable plastic! No plastic!

    Jamie on

  • Please continue to develop your own wax soap-pods and stay away from plastics and oil-based cleaners if possible! It took so long to find a company that had completely plastic-free packaging and shipping materials.
    I do wish that these products were less cost-prohibitive to the masses and available for both online and in-person purchases. I understand that plastic is cheaper than bees wax, but I hope that you’re able to figure out how to stay the coarse of plastic-free while making your excellent products more accessible.

    Yvonne on

  • The beeswax pods feel like the right alternative—and they don’t work very well. In an order containing three of them one arrived broken with the dish soap concentrate all over other stuff. A second, placed in a tub under the kitchen sink until needed, developed a leak. Again, all over other stuff. Now the two I haven’t used are stored in a jar so that if they leak I can just add water and have dish soap. There is a saying somewhere about “not letting the best become the enemy of the good” so perhaps that applies here and PVOH is the good. Not perfect, and not as hard on the environment as plastic dish soap containers. And perhaps there is a best out there a few years down the road. Generally speaking, love tee—especially the beeswax wraps and bags. I keep a sandwich bag in my purse to use for restaurant left overs instead of take out boxes. Works well for lots of stuff. Thank you for the work you do.

    Michelle McAlpin on

  • First — I appreciate the transparency & the open discussion.

    Ultimately, I think better now is more important than best in the future, because the future isn’t promised. Accessibility to the plastic-free is the most important and critical step. The reliance on fossil fuels definitely needs to end, but baby steps getting there is better than using the fossil fuels until we find a way to completely end the reliance. So reduction of reliance while working on removal of reliance! I think if the PVA/PVOH in the short term will allow more people to use the product, allowing more people to reduce their consumption of plastics, while research is done on the effect of those monomers in our water, and while researching ways to make the oil-free alternatives most affordable, that’s the best step.

    Christine on

  • I think you guys are on the right track with the beeswax pods. I, personally, have not purchased your dishwashing concentrate as I use a local service where I can refill my container at the store or get it delivered in a mason jar that I can return for a deposit.

    On a separate note, have you considered a solid dishwashing soap bar? That would eliminate the need for a plastic container as well.

    Or, is there any way the beeswax pods could be returned and reused?

    Thank you for the question. I think it’s important to wrestle with these tough choices and I appreciate that you want to reach a wider client base and that means that you have to think about growing the company in a way that is sustainable (not just environmentally but also economically).

    I wish you luck!

    Johanna Edwards on

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