Tested: ECO Dishwasher Sheets from BestFuture | Favorite Everyday

✨🌱 Sustainable, vegan cleanliness – this is what the ECO dishwasher sheets from the young startup BestFuture promise:

Transparency note: this article was created as part of a collaboration.

Among all the big and small helpers in the household, there is one that I particularly appreciate: our dishwasher!
Before we built our house, my husband and I didn’t have one and we convinced ourselves for years that we could manage without such a luxury.

But what this brave machine can handle… it saves an incredible amount of time and nerves. Especially now that we are in our blended family shared living situation, where we cook every day, we simply use a lot of dishes with four people. I enjoy quickly loading everything into the dishwasher as part of my evening routine, starting it, and just wiping down the countertops and sink – done! 🤩

You can find here:

• How is the dish sustainably cleaned?
• What are the ECO dishwasher sheets from BestFuture?
• What’s inside? – A look at the ingredients
• How clean does the dish get?
• Can I wash by hand with the ECO dishwasher sheets?
• Who is BestFuture?

How is the dish sustainably cleaned?

At first, I was skeptical about whether a dishwasher would not come at the expense of the environment? After all, it consumes electricity and, in my imagination back then, vast amounts of water, much more than I would use when washing by hand in the sink. Additionally, conventional dishwasher detergents are often full of chemicals.

I researched and found something astonishing: a properly loaded dishwasher actually works more efficiently and resource-conservatively than manual washing – especially if you tend to pre-rinse dishes. Studies show that hand washing typically uses twice as much water as a dishwasher. Modern dishwashers operate with only 6 to 10 liters of water, and often the eco program with lower temperatures is sufficient. About once a month or when you have worked with raw meat or fish, you should use higher temperatures for hygiene reasons.

An important factor is, of course, the choice of detergent. I pay attention to all our cleaning products to ensure they are as environmentally friendly as possible, including dishwasher detergents. Fortunately, there have been more and more products in recent years.

Therefore, I am very pleased to test a sustainable alternative to conventional dishwasher powders and tabs: the ECO dishwasher sheets!

What are the ECO dishwasher sheets from BestFuture?

With the ECO dishwasher sheets, the German startup BestFuture has developed an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional dishwasher cleaners.

They are vegan, plastic-free, and rely on natural ingredients. You simply place a folded sheet in the detergent compartment of your dishwasher (where the powder or tab usually goes). During the washing process, the biodegradable sheets dissolve completely and leave no residue.

You need one sheet for one wash cycle. For heavily soiled dishes, two sheets are recommended.

The sheet shape is initially unusual but clever: the sheets are about 7 x 11 cm in size and flat – they feel similar to makeup remover wipes. This makes them very space-saving, which also affects the packaging.
A pack contains 80 sheets. The outer packaging is simply made of cardboard. The box is smaller than corresponding packs of powder or tabs, saving waste.

What’s inside? – A look at the ingredients

Conventional dishwasher tabs consist of a mixture of various chemicals designed to effectively clean dishes. These include phosphates, which soften water but can promote algae growth in water bodies and disrupt the ecological balance. Surfactants dissolve grease and food residues, but are often petroleum-based and difficult to biodegrade. Bleaching agents like sodium percarbonate remove stubborn stains but can harm aquatic organisms. Additionally, many tabs contain chlorine compounds, which disinfect but are toxic to the environment. Fragrances and colorants are also added, although they are unnecessary for cleaning performance and can potentially trigger allergies.

More environmentally friendly alternatives avoid these substances and rely on biodegradable ingredients.
Here’s what’s in the ECO dishwasher sheets:

• Sodium carbonate – or soda: This popular household remedy dissolves grease and food residues. It is environmentally friendly and biodegradable.
• Sodium carbonate peroxide (oxygen bleach): This ensures that the dishes are spotlessly clean. Oxygen bleach is better than chlorine bleach as it simply breaks down into water and oxygen (in high concentrations, it can still affect aquatic organisms).
• Modified polyglycol ethers (surfactants): Grease and dirt dissolvers that are biodegradable.
• Silica and sodium salt: Support the cleaning performance and enhance the effect of the other ingredients. They are unproblematic for the environment as they occur naturally and can be easily broken down.
• Protease: (subtilisin): This vegan enzyme is obtained through a natural fermentation process and is fully biodegradable. It removes protein residues from the dishes.
• Lemon oil: Natural essential oil provides a fresh, pleasant citrus scent.

How clean does the dish get?

Besides the environmental aspect, the most important question about a detergent is, of course, how well it cleans. Dishwashing detergents face a whole range of challenges – fats, dried food residues, etc., and the glasses should ultimately come out of the machine spotless and shiny.

The ECO dishwasher sheets have done their job really well! Generally, everything from plates, cutlery, cups, and glasses has come out nicely clean. I couldn’t notice any difference compared to other cleaners (as I said, I have already been using eco-friendly cleaning products and am fully satisfied, so this is not a comparison to chemical products – I wouldn’t even know what they could do better).

The lemon scent of the sheets remains pleasantly subtle – when unloading the dishwasher, you have this “clean” smell in your nose, but it quickly dissipates and doesn’t cling to the dishes.

Sticky cheese residues, for example, on the pizza cutter have proven to be a tough challenge. This can happen with other cleaning products too and is not a deal-breaker.

What we generally do: soak! We always let pots, pans, baking dishes, etc., soak first, especially when something is burned on the bottom. After cooking, we simply place them in the sink, and while washing our hands or rinsing the fruit for dessert, water and soap automatically run in. This doesn’t cost any extra water compared to pre-rinsing, nor does it create additional effort – but it helps immensely with later washing.

Can I wash by hand with the ECO dishwasher sheets?

Yes! Even if you don’t have a dishwasher, you can use the dishwasher sheets.
You simply add a sheet to the water while washing, and it dissolves within a short time.

Who is BestFuture?

The startup from Baden-Württemberg consists of three founders: Leon, David, and Cleo. You can find information about the three and their dream of a best possible future, where sustainability has become the norm and the plastic waste problem is a thing of the past, at bestfuture.de.
There you can also order the dishwasher sheets and even have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

A small note about the website: you can tell a bit that product development is initially the focus and marketing comes afterward. In the online shop, there are currently still a few placeholders like testimonials or images for another product – this is initially confusing, but they are probably still working hard on it.

I find it super friendly that the team gives insights behind the scenes on Instagram under @bestfuture_official, for example, from product development with a few fails – and in the end, it worked out and a great product was created that I can definitely recommend! 😊