DIY Natural Dishwasher Powder

When we started our zero waste journey and cut back on all of the plastics we were buying I was finding it really hard to find a dish washing powder that was 100% safe and natural, affordable and didn't come in any plastic packaging - so I started doing my research and experimenting on making my own. It really didn't take long to find a good recipe that worked for us and I quickly learnt it was so much cheaper and meant I could get all of the ingredients with no waste and refill my container when I needed. 

I don't know why but I have always used a dishwasher powder over a liquid. It might be that I think the powder goes further or that more often than not when I was buying the powder it was easier to find one that wasn't in plastic - whereas with the liquids they all tend to be in plastic packaging.

This recipe is super simple and made from natural safe ingredients which are readily available in zero waste options. The essential oils in the recipe are totally optional and instead of using them you could grate some lemon rind into the recipe which would give it a citrus boost or I often add a little bit of my lemon vinegar mix in as a rinse aid which adds scent and antibacterial properties too.

DIY Natural Dishwasher Powder

1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Baking Soda
1/4 Cup Citric Acid (optional)
10 drops of Essential Oil of choice (I love lemon or tea tree for this recipe)

Simply mix everything together in a big bowl or shake in a large container with lid and pop into your airtight container to store. I just fill our dishwasher powder compartment as I would with any other dishwasher powder on every wash. I also add my lemon vinegar mix in as a rinse aid - especially if I am washing a lot of glasses.