Solid Dish Soap - A Favourite Zero Waste Alternative
I want to share a small woman-owned local Vancouver soap company that has converted me to Solid Dish Soap, Make Nice Company. I started using this soap last year and it has been a huge low waste win! For years I have been going to refill shops to get bulk liquid dish soap, which is a great option, but I found that I would use it up really quickly and have to make regular trips back to the refill shops which are not that close to home.
Solid Dish Soap is better for the environment because it reduced the amount of water that is needed to be shipped. One Solid Dish Soap from Make Nice Company replaces 3 conventional bottles of liquid soap, and a BIG Solid Dish Soap replaces 8! The Solid Dish Soap lathers really well, so it actually works just as good, if not better than liquid dish soap.
In addition to emissions being saved from less weight being shipped, they also take up way less space when shipping saving even more emissions. Make Nice Company packages their Solid Dish Soap in a compostable sleeve, so they are completely plastic free!
Bonnie, the founder of Make Nice Company, started making her own soap when she wasn’t able to find any plastic-free soap alternatives. Her and her partner were working to reduce single-use plastics in their home, and they weren’t able to find any option for their dish soap.
Make Nice Company Scrubber Kit
“I wasn’t able to find anything for my dishes. I figured, why not try to make it? This became a whole deep dive into learning to make soap, figuring out and testing what the best recipe would be to cut grease, and what the ideal shape would be when using it.”
Also, Bonnie never liked seeing an ingredient list she couldn’t even pronounce, so she decided to try and make her own. Make Nice Company soaps are made with simple ingredients: coconut oil, olive oil, water and lye (as well as activated bamboo charcoal for the charcoal soap). No lye or water remains after the mixture becomes soap however, the lye actually changes the oil molecules into soap in a process called saponification.
Coconut oil can cut down the most stubborn grease and create lots of suds and bubbles. Olive oil is gentle on skin and creates a soft lather. Activated bamboo charcoal has toxin absorbing and antibacterial properties. It absorbs and binds to the harmful microbial so they can be flushed away.
“I wanted the 100% natural ingredients to be simple, nothing you can’t pronounce, and vegan. After many months of making samples and testing them with friends, I finally got to Make Nice Company’s Solid Dish Soap.”
Make Nice Company takes zero waste to another level with their Scrap Solid Dish Soap. They collect all the scraps from the soap making process, mostly from when they smooth out all the edges of each soap. Once they collect a good amount, they make a batch of fresh soap to mix the scraps into.
Scrap Solid Dish Soap
This all goes into their molds, cut and finished the same way as any of their other soaps (by hand). It goes on their curing racks for 6 weeks before becoming a new and recycled version of their Solid Dish Soap!
Make Nice Company also sells soap trays, made from 100% recycled plastics and make in Canada that fit both the Solid Dish Soap and the BIG Solid Dish Soap, as well as compostable dish brushes and loofahs. They also offer 3 different kits which make excellent starters packs for anyone looking to upgrade their kitchen, or a lovely housewarming gift.
Small Solid Dish Soap in the recycled plastic soap tray
So, if you are looking for an all-natural eco-friendly soap, I would highly recommend supporting Make Nice Company.
Until the end of May 2021, use the code SUSTAINABLYURBAN to get 10% off your order!
*This is not an affiliate link but I was kindly gifted the products in this post.