If you've ever flipped your dish soap bottle around and actually read the ingredient list, you'll notice something interesting: water is almost always first. It's a strange thing to pay for water, bottled in plastic, then shipped straight to your kitchen sink.

Conventional dish soap is often up to 90% water, packaged in single-use plastic, and formulated with sulfates, synthetic fragrances and preservatives that can irritate skin and harm marine life once they wash down the drain. A natural, low-waste dish wash, like a solid block or apowder-to-liquid refill, swaps those nasties for plant-based ingredients, cuts the plastic, and still gets your dishes properly clean.

Key Takeaways

• Conventional dish soap is often mostly water, shipped in single-use plastic bottles that rarely get recycled
• Sulfates, synthetic fragrances and preservatives in mainstream dish soap have been linked to skin irritation and harm to marine life
• Natural, low-waste dish wash (blocks, powders and refills) cleans just as well without the nasties
• One simple swap, like a concentrated block or powder-to-liquid refill, can replace several bottles under your sink

Why Don't We Stock Conventional Dish Soap?

At Go For Zero, it's not that we're precious about a squeaky-clean plate. When we researched what's actually in most bottles of dish soap, we knew we couldn't stock it with a clear conscience.

Three things kept coming up: the ingredients, the packaging, and what's actually inside the bottle once you take the water out.

What's the Problem with Sulfates, Fragrances and Preservatives?

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) is the ingredient behind most of the foam in conventional dish soap and has been linked in skin, eye and even lung irritations (no thanks)! Synthetic fragrances aren't much better either. While the fancy scents might smell great to some, synthetic fragrances can introduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into your home that can pollute air quality. They're also linked to allergies, respiratory issues, headaches and in worst cases can disrupt your endocrine system. 

Since dish soap is made up of mostly water, preservatives like methylisothiazolinone and phenoxyethanol, are added to conventional formulas to prevent bacteria growth and product spoilage. The down side is that these ingredients can cause irratations like contact dermatitis and are also linked to a rise in reports of allergic reactions over the past decade. 

The good news is that there are plenty of effective alternatives made with thoughtfully chosen, natural ingredients that are kind to your skin, your home and the environment. 

Why Does the Plastic Bottle Matter Just as Much?

Then there's the bottle. Only a small percentage of dish soap is active cleaning ingredients, the rest can be up to 90% water (yikes)! Between 2023 and 2024, Australia generated 3.2 million tonnes of plastic waste, and only 13% of it was recycled. This means that alot of what goes in your recycling bin still ends up in landfill, or worse, in our waterways.

So a bottle of conventional dish soap is doing double duty: mostly water, wrapped in plastic that's unlikely to be recycled, filled with a formula your local waterway could also do without.

What Should You Look for in a Natural, Low-Waste Dish Wash?

The good news is you don't need to give anything up to fix this. A natural dish wash should tick a few boxes:

• Plant-based, naturally derived ingredients instead of sulfates and synthetic fragrance
• A concentrated formula and format (block, powder or tablet) so you're not paying to ship water
• Refillable, home-compostable packaging or better yet, no plastic at all, instead of single-use plastic packaging
• Enough grease-cutting power that you're not tempted back to the "normal" stuff after one wash

Which Natural Dish Wash Is Best for You?

We stock a few different options at Go For Zero, and which one suits you really comes down to how you like to clean.

1. Go For Zero Zero Waste Dish & Laundry Block

Our most-loved kitchen swap by a mile, with 180+ five-star reviews. The Zero Waste Dish & Laundry Block is a solid, concentrated bar made with lemon myrtle, kakadu plum, coconut oil and bicarb soda.

Wet a brush or sponge, rub it on the block, and you'll get a proper foam that cuts through grease just like a liquid. It also doubles as a laundry soap, surface cleaner and veggie wash, making it a four-in-one swap.

Check out our full breakdown here about how to get the most out of the block!

2. Resparkle Natural Dish Wash

If you'd rather stick with a liquid-style wash, Resparkle's Natural Dish Wash is a powder-to-liquid formula scented with eucalyptus and tangerine essential oils.

You simply mix the natural powder with warm tap water in a reusable glass bottle, leave it for 15 minutes to dissolve and away you go! It's also gentle enough to double as a fruit and veggie wash. Once you're through the starter kit, the refill sachets are home-compostable, so there's no bottle to replace, just the sachet.

3. e.sup Natural Dish Cleaner

e.sup's Natural Dish Cleaner is a concentrated powder you sprinkle straight into your sink, no premixing required!

It's formulated with a naturally derived enzyme blend that's especially good on grease and oil, plus and one tube gets you up to 60 washes. The packaging is 100% plastic-free and home-compostable, and e.sup also supports The Seabin Project, which is a nice bonus if ocean plastic is close to your heart.

How Do You Actually Use a Natural Dish Wash?

Switching over is easier than most people expect. Wet your cleaning cloth, sponge or brush, rub or sprinkle on your chosen dish wash, and clean like normal.

If you've gone with a powder formula, it helps to have a proper reusable bottle on hand so you're not mixing it in a jug every time. Our Amber Glass Pump Bottle is a nice option if you want something that looks good on the sink and makes topping up simple.

That's it. No new routine to learn, just a different bottle (or block) under the sink.

Why This Swap Matters More Than You Think

We've never believed the responsibility for fixing plastic and chemical pollution should sit entirely on individual households. But while bigger systems take time to change, a natural, low-waste dish wash is one of the easiest places to start, because you're doing it multiple times a day already.

It won't fix everything overnight. But it's one less bottle of sulfates and synthetic fragrance heading down the drain and onto your skin, and one less piece of plastic heading to landfill or our oceans. 

Lots of love,
Ellie x

FAQ

What is the most natural dish soap in Australia?

Look for dish washes made with plant-based or naturally derived ingredients, free from sulfates, synthetic fragrance and synthetic preservatives, and packaged in refillable or home-compostable packaging rather than single-use plastic.

Is natural dish soap as effective as regular dish soap?

Yes. Formulated well, natural dish washes like solid blocks and powder concentrates cut through grease and grime just as effectively as conventional liquid dish soap, without the harsh ingredients.

What ingredients should I avoid in dish soap?

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and SLES, synthetic fragrance, and preservatives are worth avoiding, as they've been linked to skin irritation and harm to marine life.

Is dish soap bad for the environment?

Conventional dish soap can be, mostly because of what's in the formula (sulfates, fragrance, preservatives) and because it's shipped in single-use plastic that's rarely properly recycled in Australia.

How do I switch to a low-waste dish wash?

Start with one product, a block, powder or refill, and pair it with a reusable bottle or cloth. You don't need to overhaul your whole kitchen at once.