I have never used any before but the store had a closeout on Persil Ultra Pacs so I bought a jar. It is the detergent I have been using in standard liquid form. What the heck are these things made of? Is the melted pouch going to be distributed over my clothes? Is this a micro-plastic disaster?
Not sure about micro plastic disasters
But I don’t recommend them for front loaders. They don’t melt completely. IME.
Persil is good stuff tho’.
If you have a top loader it will dissolve completely.
I wish they worked for front loaders, I tend to overuse liquids.
I’m waiting on the detergent pads to get more available (and cheaper). Kinda like the sheets but just a small thicker thing. The sheets I’ve tried stick together in our humid conditions.
We used to buy those and I never found melted pieces of the pouch.
Now, though, we buy the jugs of liquid form again. I read that you only need about a tablespoon for an average load of laundry, maybe two for bigger or dirtier loads. Now a jug lasts much longer, even when we buy cheaper brands. Our clothes still look and feel clean.
The pouches are made from polyvinyl alcohol. They should completely dissolve in water, even cold water. It should not form micro beads or other environmental hazards.
They are environmentally beneficial in two ways. First, they reduce the amount of detergent used per wash, assuming you use only one pouch. They are also more concentrated, which means less energy spent shipping the product.
ETA: Ninjaed partially.
The pouch is made of something that’s fully water soluble. It’s not petroleum-based plastic.
I have a front loader and I very rarely have a problem with a pouch failing to fully dissolve and release its payload. Once in a great while one will somehow migrate to the front of the washer and wedge itself between the glass window and the big soft silicone gasket. That area gets very little water. Which can leave a smear of undissolved soap goop on the gasket after a wash cycle. Annoying, but easy enough to clean with just wet paper towel.
If you put the pod in first before the clothes and toss it to the back that seems to reduce the likelihood of a problem to just about zero. It’s pods that go in last atop the sloping pile of clothes and quickly roll downhill to rest against the glass that seem more likely to malfunction.
I use Tide Free and Gentle Pods, and IIRC, the instructions (which probably no one reads) do instruct to put the pod into the washer before adding clothes.
In using pods for maybe 5 years now, I’ve never noticed any apparent residue or pod bits left over in the washing machine – but then, we have a top-loader.
So first you read the instructions and then you have a top loader to boot. Geez what a double-cheater! 
Yeah, ours came with a big ass measuring cup (possibly holding a cup). All the measuring lines (there are six, labeled A, B, C, 1, 2, and 3 for some reason) are less than 1/2 inch from the bottom of the cup. It’s clear plastic and it sometimes seems like as much product adheres to the inside of the cup as pours into the dispenser.
IMO that’s one of the most egregious examples of misleading wasteful packaging. By the design of the measuring cup or cap they implicitly encourage you to use about 10x what’s needed. And about 5x what their printed directions say.
I’ve found as general matter that about half of whatever their directions say is enough for a small load is about right for a large load. I also don’t work on oil wells or play in the dirt, so I’m mostly washing sweat out of otherwise clean clothes, sheets, etc. There certainly are folks who come home with clothes with lots of embedded oily stuff who’d probably benefit from more detergent in their washer than I use.
I don’t mean this to be threadshitting, but I just buy the cheapest, big jar of laundry soap, then pour a splash in the wash tub. How much is a splash? About thaaaat much. Seems to work jes’ fine, and it’s the most economic method.
If I have something with a dirtier spot (like a collar or cuff), I just pour the splash directly on it before adding the laundry item to the tub.
Ain’t had no complaints so far. File this under “things mommy taught me.”
We’ve been using these for a couple of years and have no complaints. Cheaper, lighter, smaller than any powders, pods, or liquids.
We’re two seniors, no kids, and like @LSLGuy, rarely get our clothes very dirty.
I agree the cheap stuff is substantially as good as “the leading brand”.
Your splasher might be finely calibrated, or it might be a bunch more or less than you think it is. When I used that method every now and then I poured my splash into their measuring cup to see how much I’d drifted and how it compared to their recommendation. IME my splasher tended to get more generous over time, despite my efforts not to.
As I said above, IME about 1/2 the small load recommendation is always enough for a big load.
Yep. I now use the Arm & Hammer version of those. For all those reasons. Switched from pods a year+ ago and never looked back. I use A&H brand only because that’s the only brand of detergent sheet my local stores stock.
Which sheets are perforated to tear neatly / easily in half. I find 1/2 sheet is plenty for a full front-loader load of clothes, sheets, or towels.
We use them pretty much exclusively and and have never had an issue with that.
I make my own laundry detergent (I use the classic 20 Mule Team Borax, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, and Fels Naptha Soap, grated) but for the dishwasher, I use the Finish Quantum Max pods, which may not be the cheapest, or most environmentally friendly, but darn it, they DO get my dishes clean, and rarely leave any residue.
I keep a measuring spoon in the laundry room, and measure a teaspoon of liquid detergent into my front loader’s dispenser. If it’s a load that’s especially greasy, i might add a tiny bit more. If the load includes any underwear, i run a second cycle on “warm” and add a pre-wetted towel to try to convince the damn machine to use a little bit more water, to actually rinse the soap and dirt off my clothes. If i don’t do this, i get rashes. Yes, I’ve tried many different brands of detergent.
I’m convinced that modern washing machines don’t actually clean, they just move the dirt around so it looks even.
I wouldn’t use a pouch, even though i love them in the dish washer.
Note, those pouches do contain liquid, but you cannot measure it out yourself. Your choices are to throw in one pod or (if you ever need it) two.
In college, I had to cross the quad to get to another dorm that had a laundry room, as my dorm didn’t. So weight was a concern. If laundry pods existed then, I would have used them, just to avoid having to carry the weight of a bottle of detergent. Though at the time (1980s), there was a powder detergent brand that sold little pouches of the powder in an envelope/sachet made of dryer sheet material, so I could just put one of them in the washer and then the dryer.
And for a few years I’ve been traveling for work, often over weekends, so I would have to do laundry in the hotels. I found that I could carry a couple of laundry pods in a ziplock bag in my suitcase, though the unscented variety is best to avoid stinking up everything.
So if you live someplace where you have to walk a few blocks to a public laundromat, you might want the pods for the same reason.
Yes, the pods or the dry sheets.
There was a stretch quite some years back when I had to use a laundromat (because we’d just done a bunch of upgrades when the washer went kablooey and the emergency fund was gasping) and I quickly discovered that hauling my usual jug of Tide meant I’d be asked several times each session by someone to “just lend them a bit this one time.” It sounds like nothing, but having a jug of detergent go from brand-new to well under a half in no time… I switched over to pre-soaking a hand towel with desired dose for the number of planned loads prevented the entire hassle. Just toss that towel into the bottom of each load worked fine, in those pre-pod days.