Changes in Laundry Pod next year

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cleanteamofny

cleanteamofny

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From Bloomberg News reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis:

New York City is considering limiting the types of laundry and dishwashing detergents available in the five boroughs.

City Council Member James Gennaro, a Democrat, introduced a bill on Thursday that would make it illegal to sell or distribute detergent pods or laundry sheets that contain polyvinyl alcohol, also known as PVA or PVOH.

If approved, the bill would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

While detergent pods and sheets "dissolve" in the wash, PVA is ultimately a type of plastic. The bill notes that microplastics (bits of plastic less than 5 millimeters long) and nanoplastics (one-millionth of a millimeter) are ubiquitous sources of pollution in US waterways.

Scientists have found them in paint, on glaciers and even in rain.

 
Hey, there’s nothing really more environmentally friendly

Then a cardboard box of powder with a metal measuring scoop, the cardboard can be turned into packaging for something else, or even be used to make recycled paper, the metal scoop can be melted down with metals and turned into something such as soda cans and the powder just gets used up
 
Never thought of pods adding to the environmental dumpster fire humans have created, but one more reason to dislike them. At first I just thought this was going to be to reduce access so kids stop taking the pod challenge, but this seems great. I am certain suppliers will figure out how to reformulate.
 
What am I missing?

According to Wikipedia "Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH, PVA, or PVAl) is a water-soluble synthetic polymer."

Now, if it is water-soluble, it couldn't ever produce microplastics, which does not mean it is good for the environment (I have no idea whether it is) but surely microplastics are NOT the issue
 
I can't disagree with that but microplastic are a bigger problem in clothing and other materials rather than detergents. Pods are just an expensive convenience that severely limits one to a certain dosage that does not take water hardness or soiling into account.
 
Pods

What is funny is that powders, as previously listed, are the most environmentally friendly dye to the recyclable box, but the fact that you aren’t transporting large volumes of water (liquids). Manufacturers will not be influenced to produce more powders. Rather, find another way to produce the capsules and pods. I will say though, the new Persil concentrated liquid is quite good though.
 
On reason pods are more environmentally friendly is the fact you CAN'T transport water in them.

As the pod material is water soluble, the liquids in the pod CAN'T contain any water.

The reason most liquid detergents DO contain a fair amount of water is I guess 2 fold.
First it helps with dosing - if you dose greater amounts and are of by a few milliliters, it's less of percentually.
Second, as you handle bare detergent, getting a drop on your skin is much more irritating if the detergent is more concentrated.
Then there is the psychological factor (compensating for the "more is better" feeling) etc.

A machine can dose liquids orders of magnitude more exact than a human by eye, almost regardless of actual amount in question, so dosing 13.8g per pod for example is absolutely no problem.

Powder detergent actually has a certain environmental impact in production as the drying of the usually liquid surfactants uses a fair amount of energy - but transportation in these types of products is often the most impactful.

And yes, those compounds used dissolve 100% in water and are usually easily captured in water treatment, at least according to Wikipedia.

That bill makes no sense in my mind.
 

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