TruEarth vs. Earth Breeze Detergent: Which are the Best Plastic-free Laundry Strips?

This is my detailed review of Tru Earth vs. Earth Breeze laundry sheets – and why I prefer Earth Breeze – after testing both plastic-free detergent brands on dozens of loads.

Here at Tilted Map, we’ve been testing and reviewing sustainable products for years. For one of the very first reviews, I tested lots of plastic-free laundry detergents and cleaning products, including one brand, TruEarth, that makes laundry sheets to replace liquid detergent in plastic bottles. (Btw, that cleaning review just got a full update for 2025.)

And ever since I started using TruEarth, they checked all the boxes:

• They’re great for travel,
• they’re plastic-free,
• and they do a good job of getting my clothes clean. No complaints.

But I didn’t do a very good job of looking at alternatives to Tru Earth, as new companies started popping up on the market. 

Luckily, I have you, dear readers, who pay attention to these things and ask me lots of great questions in the comments and in my inbox. After one such question, I realized I needed to do a follow-up on Tru Earth vs. Earth Breeze. 

Earth Breeze is a brand that makes nearly the same product as Tru Earth but… a bit better. 

Quick Summary: Tru Earth vs Earth Breeze 

In short, this has become a pretty easy choice: Earth Breeze detergent sheets cost slightly less than TruEarth, leave my clothes softer, and do not contain toxic phthalates. 

Plus, they have a far better B Corp score (a measure of sustainability and ethical business practices) and donate to lots of charitable organizations. 

There are only two main “pros” that might make you prefer Tru Earth over Earth Breeze: 

1. Earth Breeze strips are currently made in China, while TruEarth is made in Canada. But Earth Breeze is planning to bring that manufacturing to the US. Even if that weren’t the case, they make up for that with everything else they’re doing right.  
2. And Earth Breeze laundry sheets contain sodium lauryl sulfate, which is a potential skin irritant that’s often an ingredient in everything from toothpaste to shampoo to foods. If you have sensitive skin, or know you’re allergic to SLS, this would be one to avoid. (In my experience, I haven’t had any issues with them.)

Despite those two things, I still recommend Earth Breeze for their performance and sustainability credentials. 

What are laundry detergent sheets?

I really nerded out about these little paper-like strips of detergent, about the size of a name tag. They’re an efficient, mess-free way to deliver concentrated, eco-friendly laundry detergent. You just toss one or two strips / sheets in the bottom of your washing machine, and start your load as usual.

Laundry strips have a lot of sustainability advantages (plastic-free, efficient, low shipping weight). But the biggest laundry-related advantage is that it’s easy to use exactly how much you need. 

(I mean when compared with other sustainable, concentrated detergents like Dropps’ liquid-filled pods, or Blueland’s compressed powder tablets. With laundry sheets, you can just tear a strip in half if you need more or less, whereas the solid tablets and liquid pods are all-or-nothing.)

[Details: I’ve tested both of those brands for my Blueland vs Cleancult review and my Dropps review. Switching to any of the above is one of the best things you can do to easily reduce the plastic waste of your laundry routine.]

About Tru Earth

Tru Earth is based in Canada, and their strips are manufactured there. They ship from warehouses in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Canada.

I started using TruEarth strips way back in 2020, when I first started testing and reviewing plastic free products. 

At the time, they didn’t have any specific sustainability certifications, but the nature of the product itself was (and is) inherently sustainable: Replacing something that normally comes in big plastic jugs, in order to ship a product that’s mostly water across the country, with a plastic-free, lightweight, concentrated alternative.  

Since then, they’ve added a few new products (like fabric softener sheets) and more scents. And they’ve become a Certified B Corp (although not with the highest score). 

A Real Review by a REAL PERSON

Also new since I first started testing these products is the invention of AI and its product comparison overviews on your favorite search engines. Here’s a screenshot of one example, which you likely scrolled past before clicking on my review. (Thank you for clicking, by the way!) 

It’s interesting how entirely wrong that overview is.

In reality, BOTH TruEarth and Earth Breeze use entirely plastic-free packaging. I know this because I’m a real human who actually ordered the products, paid for them with my own money, and am now typing this out sitting on a train. (Ever seen AI take a train? Didn’t think so.) 

I also have a masters degree in sustainability, but really just being a human is all that was needed for this first observation. (If you’re interested, here’s more about how this blog makes money and how AI affects that.)

About Earth Breeze laundry sheets

Earth Breeze has more sustainability certifications than Tru Earth, and in my tests it also does a better job of getting clothes clean.

Earth Breeze strips are also free of phthalates – a potentially harmful hormone disruptor. (TruEarth doesn’t not mention these in their “free of” list, and I assume they would if it were the case.)

The biggest difference you’ll notice

The biggest performance difference I’ve noticed after using both Earth Breeze and TruEarth strips is that Earth Breeze leaves my laundry feeling much softer – as if I’d used a fabric softener, even when I hadn’t. 

As far as I can tell, this is because of the kaolin (a type of clay) in the ingredients list for Earth Breeze. That’s similar to the softening ingredient in Dropps’ natural fabric softener pods, which use bentonite (another type of clay). 

Don’t worry, the kaolin rinses out clean; it just helps reduce the hardness of your water. 

What this means is Earth Breeze strips leave my clothes noticeably softer than TruEarth. No crunchy-feeling towels, even after line-drying them. And since it’s not a chemical fabric softener, it’s safe to use these laundry strips on sportswear, towels, and other fabrics that you normally shouldn’t use with fabric softener. 

Stuck together strips? 

The one con I’ve noticed of Earth Breeze vs TruEarth is that Earth Breeze strips have a tendency to stick together just slightly, whereas TruEarth strips really stay separated like sheets of paper. 

This is definitely not a deal-breaker. It’s minor. It’s very easy to pull the Earth Breeze strips apart, so I’m still sticking with them for their better laundry performance. 

Where is Earth Breeze manufactured?

Earth Breeze is based in Oregon, but their products currently are made in China. Each batch is tested by an independent lab in the US. 

Manufacturing in China means the overall shipping emissions are likely greater if you live in North America. However they do offset those emissions. 

For every purchase, Earth Breeze also donates laundry sheets to shelters and disaster relief organizations – it’s really a massive list of organizations they support. 

And Earth Breeze is investing in a factory on the East Coast of the US, and planning to have all products made there at some point in 2025. I’ll update this here when that happens! 

At this time (as of March 2025), Earth Breeze orders ship from two warehouses: One in Oregon for all US orders, and one in the UK for all international orders.

CHART: The best laundry sheets – Tru Earth vs. Earth Breeze Comparison 

When it comes down to it, Tru Earth and Earth Breeze are virtually identical in effectiveness. Where they differ is in ingredients, sustainability efforts, and the other details that I thought would be easier to digest in the comparison chart below:

Who makes bigger laundry sheets? 

Quick note on the size: Earth Breeze sheets are slightly larger, and cost slightly less per sheet (or a lot less if you subscribe). 

But don’t be tricked into thinking you get twice as many. (They just put “60 loads” in bigger print on the package, whereas TruEarth puts the emphasis on “32 strips.”)

Note on PVA: 

Both TruEarth and Earth Breeze laundry sheets contain polyvinyl alcohol (abbreviated PVA or PVOH – they’re the same thing).

It’s an ingredient you may have heard some controversy about, and that controversy led me to do a lot of research on PVA. (Blog post on that coming soon.) In short, every scientific source I’ve found has said that there’s no evidence it’s really a problem. 

Other Brands Tested

In my search for the best laundry detergent sheets, I tested more than just Tru Earth and Earth Breeze. I also ordered sheets from Cleancult and Zero Waste Essentials. Neither of them cleaned better, and neither turned out to be favorites. Here’s why I didn’t include them in this review: 

First of all, Clean Cult is not a brand that’s impressed me over the past few years. They’ve eliminated sustainability certifications and carbon removal investments that they used to advertise. And their “refillable” cleaning products are liquid refills in Tetra-Pak, which contains plastic and often isn’t recyclable. They just talk a much greener game than what they live up to, after my research and testing. For most sustainable cleaning products, Blueland is a much better option. 

[Details: See my full Cleancult vs Blueland review.]

Both Cleancult and Zero Waste Essentials package their laundry sheets in three-dimensional cardboard boxes, whereas Tru Earth and Earth Breeze both come in flat cardboard envelopes. (The packaging is bulkier and takes more space in the delivery truck to ship.) 

Is it a huge difference? No, I’ll admit it’s pretty minor. But in my experience using all four brands, it doesn’t improve performance in any way, and is just unnecessary. 

And none of these competitors have sustainability credentials that stack up to Earth Breeze. 

Discounts & Where to Buy

Shop Small / Local: 

You can buy Earth Breeze laundry sheets directly from their easy-to-use website.

Earth Breeze is also in some local retail stores, but they don’t have a list or map on their website. (I’ve reached out to them to ask about this, too. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.)

If you want to try Tru Earth instead, you’ll save 10% on Tru Earth products by ordering from Earth Hero with the following discount code: 

(Earth Hero is my favorite online store for sustainable products. I know, a little more creativity in all these names would be nice. It gets confusing!)

You can also order TruEarth directly from their website, or buy their strips in these local stores.

Big Box Stores:

Both Earth Breeze and TruEarth are also both available on Amazon. Walmart also carries Earth Breeze online and in some stores. 

But whenever possible, I always recommend shopping from small, sustainability-focused retailers instead of Amazon. It’s just another way of showing support for those small businesses that are helping to make the world… it may be cliche, but yes, a better place. 

But since I live in the real world and I know that sometimes convenience does win, you can always shop the brands I recommend on Amazon here.

Other Products from Earth Breeze: 

In addition to laundry detergent sheets, Earth Breeze also makes a few other products, including dishwasher tablets, sponges made with walnut shells, and unique washing machine cleaner tablets, all of which I decided to try. 

Plastic-free Sponges – Great!

Earth Breeze’s walnut sponges are actually quite good! They’re a lot more comparable to the classic, yellow and green dish sponges (which are made of plastic) than any other plastic-free sponges I’ve tested. Also very similar to these plastic-free sponges from Blueland and about the same price.

For example, Swedish dish cloths are nice for some jobs, but they don’t have any scrubbing power. Neither do those plant-based pop-up sponges, and I find them too flimsy to be useful, anyway. (After all, they’re designed to be replaced every few days. I have a hard time even changing my contact solution that frequently.)

Plastic-free Dishwasher Tablets – Decent.

I couldn’t resist ordering Earth Breeze’s dishwasher tablets (despite having a stockpile of perfectly good dishwasher tablets at home) because I’m obsessive about these things. 

For example, my brain says: But what if Earth Breeze turns out to be just way, way better? Or their dishwasher tablets are the only product that’s secretly packaged in plastic, and I won’t know it if I don’t order it? 

Well, none of those things happened. First, yes, they came in a plastic-free box. 

And the tablets worked fine – but probably won’t win any awards. I’ve run a dozen loads or so with the Earth Breeze dishwasher pods. On most loads, I couldn’t tell a difference between Earth Breeze vs. my Blueland or Dropps tablets. But occasionally, on particularly dirty dishes, there does seem to be more residue with Earth Breeze. 

If you’re almost out of dishwasher tablets, need a quick refill and are about to order something else from Earth Breeze, then go for it. They’ll be fine in a pinch. But in general, I’d recommend sticking with Blueland dishwasher tablets. 

Washing Machine Cleaner Tablets – Still a mystery

Finally, I’ve had a problem with my washing machine leaving lint-like marks on clothes forever (despite cleaning the filters), so I decided to give these washing machine cleaner tablets a try. And before they arrived, my landlord replaced our washing machine. 

Since cleaning a shiny new machine wouldn’t be much of a test, I haven’t tried these yet. (I’ll update this when I find a dirty washing machine to clean.) 

But I can confirm that they’re in a plastic-free package, and are a very affordable thing to test. (If YOU use them, let me know in the comments how they do!)

Other Products from TruEarth:

When I first tried TruEarth, back in 2020, they pretty much just had one product. They’ve mostly stayed in their laundry lane, making six different scents for their detergent strips, plus “platinum” strips that are supposed to be better for extra dirty loads, fabric softener strips, and a stain remover stick. 

I tried the Platinum laundry strips and didn’t notice any difference whatsoever in how clean my clothes came out vs. the regular strips. 

Besides laundry, they’ve got multi-surface cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, and dishwasher tablets. 

Of those, so far, I’ve only tried their multi-purpose cleaner – which is the same concept: a concentrated strip that you dissolve in water. But I still prefer Blueland’s all-purpose cleaner tablets. The TruEarth strips just didn’t seem to have as much cleaning power. 

Do laundry detergent sheets really work?

Bottom line: Laundry strips are legit. I’ve never had an issue with my clothes getting clean enough washing them with laundry detergent sheets. (And I don’t miss carrying heavy plastic jugs home from the store, or packing bulky laundry pods when I’m traveling light.) 

After all my testing and research, I recommend Earth Breeze. Their laundry detergent sheets clean and soften clothes noticeably better than Tru Earth strips. And Earth Breeze scores sustainability points for charitable giving and their significantly higher score as a Certified B Corp. 

Before you go…

Check out a few of other readers’ favorite sustainable product reviews!

• Blueland vs Cleancult (which plastic-free cleaning products you should stick with)
• Dropps Review (more sustainable laundry detergent options)
• 25 EASY Sustainability Swaps to Make in 2025
• Viori Shampoo Bar Review (with bars with the best story!)
• Misfits Market Review – is the “rescued” organic grocery delivery service worth it?

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