Laundry detergent pod

Laundry detergent packs are products containing laundry detergent, softener and other soap types enclosed in dissolvable plastic discs. Notable brands of these packs include Arm & Hammer, Purex, Persil and Tide.^[1] They first became popular in February 2012 when they were introduced by Procter & Gamble as Tide Pods.^[1]

The chemistry of laundry detergent packs is the same as in liquid detergents (including alkylbenzenesulfonates). The water-soluble pouch is typically made of polyvinylalcohol (PVA) or a derivative of PVA. Although the formulas are similar, a detergent pack's liquids may contain only 10% water compared to 50% in liquid detergents.^[2]

MonoSol is one of the companies that develops the water-soluble film used for laundry and dishwasher detergent packs, used by brands including Tide, with roughly $250 million in annual sales and controlling around 90-percent of the market.^[3] The film is designed to be soluble within cold water.^[4]

Laundry pods are estimated to make up about 15% of the $7 billion-a-year U.S. laundry detergent market sales according to market researcher Nielsen NV. Laundry pods attempt to reduce wasted use of powdered and liquid detergent by having precise measurements for a load. For large loads, most brands recommend two to three pods. The price of detergent pods can also be higher than the liquid detergent for equivalent laundry loads.^[5][6]

History

Laundry tabs were originally introduced in the 1960s in a compacted granular form (similar to an oral medical tablet), when Procter & Gamble launched Salvo tablets, later disappearing from the market in the 1970s. In the 1990s, Unilever and Henkel launched a similar laundry detergent pack product sold in Western Europe. These products sometimes didn't fully dissolve in United States washers.^[7]

In 2005, Cot'n Wash, Inc. introduced liquid unit dose laundry pods under the Dropps brand. ^[8]

In 2012, Procter & Gamble relaunched a liquid tablet product as Tide Pods.^[1]

Poisonings

Concern has been raised over children accidentally being exposed to laundry pacs, as its appearance and the packaging design can have the same appeal to a child as hard candy with patterned designs, and be confused as such.^[9]

In 2012, in response to a child swallowing Tide Pods, Procter & Gamble said they would make this product more difficult to open by adding a double latch to the lid, and has also re-focused their advertising to make clear the product should be out of a child's reach at all times. The packaging was also changed to an opaque orange rather than the original clear plastic gumball machine-type presentation to make them look less enticing; other manufacturers followed suit with equivalent packaging changes.^[10] In 2013, Consumer Reports stated that there had been nearly 7,700 reported incidents in which children age 5 or younger had been exposed to laundry pacs,^[1] and that year, one child from Florida died after ingesting a pac.^[11] In 2014, a study published in Pediatrics found that from 2012 to 2013, more than 17,000 calls were made to poison control centers about children who had been exposed to the pacs.^[12] Despite the industry's move toward safer packaging, a 2017 study published in "JAMA Ophthalmology" found that between 2012 and 2015, the number of chemical eye burns associated with laundry detergent pods among 3-4 year old children skyrocketed from fewer than 20 to almost 500 per year; in 2015, these injuries were responsible for 26% of all chemical eye burns among this population.^[13]

References