Unilever (EU) Sun Green Power Dishwasher Detergent - No Phosphates!

[MrX]

This is interesting, just noticed large amounts of Unilever's SUN All-in-1 Green Power dishwashing detergent appearing on the shelves of our local supermarkets in Ireland.

I know you phosphate lovers will be really upset at this new trend, but I've tried them and they work amazingly well!

Perhaps it's signs of things to come...

See the ingredient list below (Unilever Ireland site linked)

http://www.unilever.com/PIOTI/EN/p4.asp?selectCountry=IE&language=EN&productid=3029699

 

[spoodles]

I wish they'd put Sun out in the UK too (even the regular stuff would be a start!) - be nice to have another major brand to choose from. No doubt if Unilever UK ever got round to it they'd wimp out and call it Persil. :-(

Is Sun as popular as Finish or Fairy over there?

 

[spoodles]

forgot to add...

Are there any pictures of this stuff? The only Sun site I could find was a "page under construction" one.

 

[dj-gabriele]

Oh my... that stuff is called "Svelto" in Italy and was the worst detergent I ever tried! Glasses were all stained and I had to scrub my pans because there always were starchy residues. On the good side I must tell that the tabs smelled nice. I won't ever buy Unilever again for my dishwasher. Finish is really the best!

http://www.svelto.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=45

 

[MrX]

First of all, that's actually not Sun All in One Green Power tablets, I checked the ingredients on unilever's website and it contains a large dose of phosphates. It's an old formula Sun "4 in 1". The newer formulations are all called "All-in-1" or "All-in-1 Power".

It also seemed that many of the Italian forumla Unilever dishwasher tablets don't contain enzymes. That's not the case with the Sun products on sale here.

Over the last few months I have been changing dishwasher detergent and trying them all out in a fairly new Bosch dishwasher.

I've found the current generation of Sun All in One a really good detergent. It has removed absolutely everything without any issues and hasn't tarnished or damaged anything. It out performed Finish Quantum in removing things like oatmeal and burnt-on cookware.

Finish Quantum -
Seems OK, but didn't perform brilliantly.

Fairy Active Gel Tabs -
Poor performance - left dishes with a weird sticky feeling

Tesco 5-in-1
Good performance - bit too harsh on the dishes though.

Tesco Eco Tablets
Useless! Flooded the dishwasher with suds and it didn't wash.

Ecover tablets
Clean very well but caused tarnishing of metal.

As for the market share question.

Finish and Sun seem to hold 50:50 share at the moment. It's always been that way.
P&G Fairy is a definite number 3 with the store own brands after that.

 

[MrX]

French Green Power website

Unfortunately, Unilever Ireland's website's sun section seems rather out of date.

However, here's the French Sun Green Power link. The product and branding is basically identical.

http://www.sunleseconomiesdurables.com/

 

[MrX]

Green Power

Avec Sun Green Power, la recherche Unilever a mis au point une formule unique, sans phosphates, encore plus respectueuse de l’environnement et capable de fournir la même performance que les autres produits Sun.
Et pour aller plus loin, Sun Green Power a été conçu de façon à diminuer son empreinte écologique sur l’ensemble du cycle de vie.
Sun Green Power, c’est ainsi* :

- 18% de réduction de produits chimiques par tablette Tout en 1
- plus d’1/3 de réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre
- 20% de réduction de carton d’emballage

Rough Translation :

With Sun Green Power, Unilever's research has created a unique formula, without phosphates which is even more respectful of the environment and capable of giving the same performance as the other Sun products. And further more, Sun Green Power has been made in a way that reduces its environmental footprint -

18 % reduction in the chemical products compared to All in 1
more than 1/3 reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
20% reduction in packaging.

 

[hoovermatic]

We used to get Sun in the UK, came in a dark blue bottle. This was back in the late 1980's/early 90's. Don't know why they got rid of it. I am currently using Co-op 5in1 tabs as they were on BOGOF and they seem very good. All the usual burnt on stuff comes off first time and everything is squeeky clean so can't complain/ Not a fan of tabs or these 3 in 1/ 5 in 1 things but the offer was too good to miss. Was not as impressed with Sainsburys Clean Home tabs in the water soluble wrapper.

 

[MrX]

It's increasingly difficult to get anything that isn't 5 in One or 9 in One or whatever!

My local supermarket doesn't seem to stock ANY liquids or powders for dishwashers anymore. They'd nothing except tablets.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Wholesalers to the Farming Community

I have a local store that is a supplier of 'Professional' detergents, animal feed, work clothes, etc., to the local farmers (and basically anyone else who wants such products).

Amongst their dishwasher detergents are the Professional 'SUN' and 'BRYTA' brands. They were part of Unilever once, but were farmed out to Johnson-Diversey or Diversey-Lever, or some such combination.

There is SUN liquid-gel detergent with chlorine bleach; SUN tablets (biological formulation) with dissolvable wrappers (100 in a box, for about £16); SUN and BRYTA powders with chlorine bleach.

I noticed in my Bosch that there was some staining on the steel-lining at the back of the tub, from food stuffs (pasta starch, or something similar). It had failed to come off for months, despite repeated wash cycles with FINISH or FAIRY and the odd cleaning cycle. The other night I thought I would try three of the SUN tablets: 1 in the prewash, 2 in the mainwash, to clean a particularly soiled load.

When I opened the door, the inside looked as though it was brand new: the shiniest it has been in a long time.

 

[MrX]

I'd say the Sun tablets bought through Johnson Diversey are still manufactured by Unliever though. They're just distributed through Johnson Diversey.

It was Lever Diversey, a very large business-to-business cleaning product operation, but Unilever sold it off to Johnson Wax, hence the name change.

I'd assume they still have exclusive distribution of the professional Lever products though as there'd be considerable brand loyalty.

Overall, I'd have to say the Sun tablets DO work really well though.

 

[rolls_rapide]

I'm inclined to agree about SUN detergent. It doesn't seem to foam up as much as FINISH, and the machine doesn't sound as though it is struggling to combat the foam some of the other detergents create.

SUN 'Professional' has a unique smell too. It is quite different from FINISH's lemon or original (almost menthol, or mint?) fragrances.

The tablets are easily dissolved, and slimmer than the main competitors versions.

As far as I can make out, SUN employs the manganese-based bleaching catalyst - the type that caused PERSIL 'Power' all the grief in the mid-nineties.

 

[MrX]

Yup. Perhaps that bleaching process is far more appropriate for dishes than it is for fabric though

It doesn't seem to fade or damage patterns at all.

Oddly enough, I've found Ecover very harsh. It's tarnished stainless steel items!!

 

[rolls_rapide]

Tarnished steel

I wonder if your problem with steel getting tarnished is anything to to with the LACK of ingredients in Ecover.

As far as I can remember, do the other manufacturers not put BENZOTRIAZOLE or some such chemical, to combat corrosion of metal parts?

I wonder how Ecover affects the dishwasher itself.

 

[MrX]

The Sun tablets have Benzotriazole in them anyway, including the Green Power version.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Most of them do, including the shops' own-brand versions. I remember reading it on the UK Co-op's box of tablets, years ago now.

 

[MrX]

Ecover:

Sodium Citrate
Sodium Percarbonate
Sodium Carbonate
Disodium Disilicate
Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium Poly Asparaginate
Tetra Acetyl Ethylene Diamine (TAED)
Water
Iso-octyl Glucoside
D-glucitol
Rapeseed Oil
Perfume
Glycerol
Amylase
Subtilisin
Limonene
Sodium Gluconate