Plastic Container or Cardboard Box

Soap nuts: The $12 a pound ones, from Better Life Goods, were larger. I use three soap nuts in the little (included) cloth bag per load (I have a front loading washer).
The $8 a pound ones, from Mountain Rose Herbs, are pretty small. I use about six of them, in the little bag I saved from the previous ones (they don't come with a bag), per load.
You can usually get Maggies Soap Nuts at co-ops, maybe the larger "green" grocers, like Whole Foods, or do a search online for Maggies Soap Nuts. Our local co-op carries them, including a "trial size" which has about 10 soap nuts and a cloth bag for putting them in.
We do have a soap nut tree growing in a pot in the window... I had found a loose seed in the bag, and plunked it into a pot! I think it would be several years before it yielded anything, and I'm not sure this is the climate for it to grow outdoors.
I still pre-spot stains, but I have eliminated using Oxyclean in my laundry. I also don't need or use fabric softeners.

 

That's a tough question, Tripp...
When I first got them, I got them (Maggies Soap Nuts) by the kilo sack... of the large ones. The brochure that came with them claimed that they would do about 200 loads. But, the instructions were for a top loading washer, which requires 5 soap nuts per load, but you use the nuts several times. I have a front loading washer (HE), and the instructions for that is 3 nuts per load, and you don't reuse the nuts...
Two kilos lasted us just about a year. That's about 5 loads per week, average, in a front loader, no reuse of the nuts.
Down side. Haven't really found one. Clothes are clean, they smell nice, not perfumed, not much static cling...
Oh, and DH, who used to be an appliance repair person, says that the reduction in lint is a very positive sign.

 

for YEARS, i bought costco laundry soap, powdered in huge plastic (OMG!!... oh oh...so much for trying to save the localized paper industry) 25 lb bucket which i use for garage stuff after its empty. then a relationship started. and all habits were changedincluding a move to liquid soap

i mmediately noticed (mostly because that is the way i am) that liquid soap costs more, doesnt last as long, etc... didnt notice a difference in the cleaning ability since we pre-treat anything that might be a problem

now i live in an area where the water is relatively good. have never noticed issues with dissolving soap in cold water (i break up chunks if they form, but dont often have much of a problem. now this is in an area that averages 99% humidity EVERY MORNING for 10 months of the year and using soap that is re purchased 3 times a year)



also because of my work schedule, i do 95% of the grocery shopping and 100 % of the loading of clothes. (granted i have "certain" loads that finish the dryer in the evening because i have been banned from putting them away) so very familiar with the differences here.

now with me being the cheap guy that i am, if all things are equal, and i do accept "close" i will always go the cheap route.

as far as packaging of any other items, if i have a choice, i always take cardboard (worked in box plant for years) and paper over plastic. in my household, we have probably consumed less than 2 dozen plastic bags (not everyone here is as diligent as i am) so far this year.

paper being one of the most recycled items does make me concerned over packaging options chosen by the mostly foreign manufacturers. if it were done here, i would expect the government (since they subsidize nearly everything anyway) to add recycled paper handling to their list. heck, jus put it under commodities next to corn or something...


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wow, i never heard of soap nuts either, i want to try them as well. do you think Trader Joes would have them?. much closer than Whole Foods

 

The Olympia food co op has them... the West side outlet has more choices than the East side, which is counter-intuitive to me.
You're still in Oly, aren't you?

 

oooh.. heck the Co-op is within Zenn range!!

 

What wildlife have evolved to rely on soap nuts for sustenance and what are the implications for the existing wildlife that interferes with soap nut farming operation and expansion? Just view what's happening to orangutans with palm tree farming and expansion. It's tear jerking.

 

actually high energy is a pretty good description as well, my in-laws just paid about $3,000 for top of the line front loading set, and when the washer is on spin cycle, its like a jet taking off and i dont mean loudness, that thing spins at a pretty high rate of speed~!!

 

Soap nut farming doesn't take out the trees. That's a bit different than palm tree farming.
If you go check out this article (scroll to Why the Bodhi tree matters), it explains how the soap nut business is sustainable.
Believe me, I do understand your concern.

 

Yeah, I tried to locate info on wildlife and there was nothing available which lead me to believe the farming practices are relatively benign. Hopefully increased demand doesn't change this.

One of the sites I found said that soap nuts are very effective on work out clothes. If that's true, I'd give them a run as currently my eco friendly detergent doesn't work well on work out clothes.

 

well i have about 23 lbs of my 25 lb container left but with a `9 month old, we go thru a lot of laundry. i will be trying the soapnuts for sure... now knowing me and my bad memory, i will probably get some in the next few days or so to check them out

 

They're taking all sorts of metal and glass, but still restrict plastics to certain kinds. I try to avoid plastic containers if I don't know if they're acceptable or not.

 

right-o. Here in CO we can now recycle (curbside) plastics 1-6, which is smashing. I used to save up the #5 and take it to a big recycling center every couple of months because curbside we could only do 1 & 2. Now it's a lot easier. We try to avoid as much as possible, but it's bloody difficult these days, as you know. One encouraging thing that we've seem more and more of is #7 plastic made from corn. It's compostable, so we just chuck in ye old composter.