Meet Dropps: a Cleaner, Zero Waste Laundry Solution

Did you know that on April 22, 1970, the very first Earth Day celebration was held in 2000 colleges and schools, including in Philadelphia’s own Fairmount Park?

One of those treehuggers in attendance would not only decrease his sustainability footprint but for loads of others one day. Jonathan Propper had the textile industry in his DNA, since his mother, Lenore Propper Schwartz, started the Conshohocken Cotton Co which made apparel using a patented cotton yarn.

The Proppers needed to use a gentle detergent for natural fibers to make them look like new, so they developed an effective and gentle innovative formula deemed Cot’n Wash.

But Propper wasn’t satisfied with just the formula. 68% of laundry detergent bottles aren’t recycled, which means there’s a big opportunity for impact. Propper wanted to completely eliminate plastic waste from laundry. 

In 2005, Jonathan Propper introduced the first liquid unit-dose pod, before Tide caught onto the idea.  

Meet Dropps, a local company that is sustainable, free of harmful chemicals in conventional detergent brands and costs less.

Dropps: Safer, less plastic, and more savings in your laundry

They simplified the ingredients for a slimmed down, safer formula. There are only 6 ingredients in Dropps sensitive skin unscented laundry detergent compared to 25 ingredients in conventional brands, full of chemicals, additive and colorants, on something you end up wearing on your skin!) Awarded the 2017 EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year by the EPA, the plant-based ingredients of Dropps is gentle enough for sensitive skin, biodegradable and lessens your (squeaky-clean) carbon footprint.

Next, they reconsidered all that plastic packaging. They’ve swapped out plastic bottles for tiny pods and ship them (directly to you!) in recyclable and compostable cardboard boxes.

There are other benefits to rethinking packaging from a huge bottle to tiny pods. When you buy bottles with a lot of liquid in them, you increase the plastic packaging and weight + space during shipping. One truck load of Dropps pods will do more than 2 MILLION wash loads – which is over 4Xs the 450,000 loads you’d get from regular detergent bottles.

You don’t have to worry about extras in your laundry: No excess water, toxic additives, artificial colors or animal testing here.

Plus, Dropps will deliver your laundry pods straight to your door either by subscription or on demand.

Usually, you’ll pay more for safer and sustainable products. But Dropps passes on savings of distributions to you, costing less per load than conventional brands.

Another great place to drop waste? Your dryer. Trade in those disposable dryer sheets for wool dryer balls to that last for years. (I’ve been using the same dryer balls for over eight years.) Save money, reduce that dryer time AND conserve energy.

Try Dropps and Save: Green Philly Reader Special

Whether you prefer unscented, a light essential oil scent or dishwasher detergent, you can get try these pods for a discount for Green Philly readers.

Head to the Dropps website and get 30% off with code GREENPHILLY. You can even use the code with 20% off subscribe & save discount. (That’s like, 50% off your first time!) One time use per new customer.

Don’t feel guilty about that big discount: when you support Dropps, you’re supporting a local business that believes in local jobs, communities, fair wages and manufacturing all their pods in the USA.