Making laundry detergents—or at least the containers

Making laundry detergents—or at least the containers—good to the last drop

March 4, 2010 1:55 PM

In "Tip of the Day: Use the Right Type and Amount of Laundry Detergent," we reported that the measuring cap on some laundry detergent containers can lead to overdosing, which wastes money and can be bad for your laundry.

But the container of some liquid laundry detergents actually makes it hard to dispense all the cleaner, or at least the last several ounces. Bob Karpel, a program leader in our Tech department, spent weeks pumping, pouring, and squeezing a plethora of containers for food, cleaners, and other products. He found two liquid laundry detergent container types that can leave up to 15 percent of the cleaner inaccessible. Watch the video (right) for the testing details.

Fortunately, there are ways to access the left-behind detergent. For one reader of The Consumerist who couldn't get the remaining ounces of cleaner out of a bottle of Walmart Great Value laundry detergent, the solution was to cut open the container. In the end, he got three more loads. Read "Great Value Detergent Is a Better Value If You Hack a Hole in the Side" for more on his detergent saga.

To allow more cleaner to flow to the cap area of a container of liquid detergent, Karpel suggests tilting the bottle or leaving it upside down. Other tips from The Consumerist post include adding a bit of water to help the last of the detergent come out better and removing the interior spout from the detergent container.

Some detergents with a pump dispenser might require you to use a pair of pliers or scissors or a knife to get off the pump, though others with a pump also have a screw-off cap, making it easier to get all the detergent. If you're going to make a hole in a detergent container, take extra caution so you don't hurt yourself.

A couple of laundry detergents try to eliminate left-behind cleaner. The new concentrated Method Laundry Detergent With Smartclean, which comes with a specially designed pump dispenser designed to extract the maximum amount of detergent from the bottom of the container. "We actually designed the dip tube with an angled tip and the bottom of the bottle with a ridge as opposed to being flat so that the dip tube fits in and gets every last bit of detergent out," says Rachel Rosenblum, Method's manager of public relations. Indeed, we were able to pump out almost all of the detergent from a 50-load container of Method Laundry Detergent With Smartclean.

Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets combine a load's worth of detergent, softener, and antistatic in one sheet. While these sheets are convenient, in our testing they rated only fair in cleaning in a top-loader and good in a front-loader. They did eliminate static cling but got towels barely softer than did water alone.

—Gian Trotta

Essential information: Find the best laundry detergent in our ratings of conventional, HE, and green cleaners (available to subscribers). And join in the lively discussion of detergents, fabric softeners, and other clothes-care products in our general laundry and cleaning forum.