What Is Polyvinyl Alcohol and How Does It Impact the Environment?

Dish and laundry pods are handy, but we’re only just starting to learn how they harm waterways, animals and our health.

In this country, we use an estimated 20 billion dishwasher and laundry pods and sheets each year. Each one is made with or wrapped in polyvinyl alcohol, or PVA. Although that wrapping seems to magically disappear, a recent study showed 75% of it actually ends up in our waterways.

“Most people don’t realize that the material used to individually wrap single-dose laundry and dishwasher detergent pods is actually plastic,” says Sarah Paiji Yoo, co-founder and CEO of Blueland cleaning products. “Like other forms of plastic pollution, PVA has the potential to cause harm to the environment, plants and animals.”