Method Smarty Dish — Green & Clean

Out of my normal Ecover dish tabs and unwilling to make the 20-minute drive to Whole Foods to get more, I crossed my fingers and tried Method Smarty Dish dishwasher detergent for $4.99 at Target. (It’s listed for $6.50 on the Method website.)

Unlike some supposed green dishwasher detergents that still contain bleach, Smarty Dish is phosphate and bleach free. It’s also non-toxic and biodegradable. I was a little nervous after having tried a few green dishwasher detergents in the past that weren’t so great.

But it seems I didn’t need to worry this time.

The dishes got clean — no film or food bits! The version I tried is Pink Grapefruit. I normally go for unscented cleaners, but the grapefruit smell is really only noticeable when you open the container. I didn’t smell it on my dishes or during the load. Method also lists their ingredients on the container. Any real green cleaner will do that.

I like that the tabs aren’t individually wrapped and also don’t stick together in the container. They are small enough to fit in the dish detergent container on my dishwasher. And the container itself is rather cute, short and square. It’s pretty enough to leave out if you choose as it also takes up little space. The container is made of at least 25% recycled plastic and is easy to throw in the recycling bin (2 HDPE).

The only negative I can think of so far is that only 20 dish tabs are included for $4.99 (current Target price). That’s a tad bit pricey, but I can’t see myself going back to dishwasher detergents containing bleach and phosphates. Once you switch, you can smell the difference. With green dishwasher detergents, there’s no icky-bleachy smell wafting out of your dishwasher.

I still like my old brand, Ecover, but Method works just as well and is much easier for me to find locally.

Have you tried Method Smarty Dish?

(Image via Method)