Our Fails

& wins

Here we want to give you updates on what we are currently working on - to become even better and more sustainable!

When we launched everdrop 4 years ago, many of our products were not as good as we and our customers wanted them to be. A sustainable refill concept was all well and good - but the performance was often far too weak. Since then, we have done everything we can to improve.

Did you know that we have had our own everdrop laboratory for 2 years and an experienced research team with decades of expertise? They work every day to find the best possible balance between sustainability and the excellent quality of our products.

A few successes that show that we have succeeded: Our bathroom cleaner was awarded top marks by Öko-Test and was named test winner by Süddeutsche Zeitung and FAZ Kaufkompass. Our detergents have been certified with the prestigious EU Ecolabel.

And in January 2024, we also won a clear test victory at Stiftung Warentest for our plastic-free dishwasher tabs. In particular, they scored top marks in the important categories "Cleaning" (1.9) and (lower) "Water pollution" (1.6). Such successes are important milestones on our mission: to produce outstanding everyday products that help people reduce their ecological footprint. And we are only just getting started!

Refill is better for the environment! In 2023, we calculated the life cycle assessment of our everdrop bathroom cleaner for the first time - and compared it with that of a conventional liquid cleaner. The aim: to establish once and for all whether tab & powder products in refillable, reusable bottles really are a game changer for greater sustainability in the home.

The result: from the 3rd refill onwards, the everdrop bathroom cleaner tab is better for the environment than a liquid product in a disposable plastic bottle in all the sustainability categories tested. And its positive impact increases over time: the tab can save up to 92% CO2 emissions and up to 88% water consumption over time.

We have been allowed to call ourselves B Corp since May 2023. As B Corp (stands for "Benefit Corporation"), we are part of a global movement of companies that work and network under the motto "Make Business a Force for Good". The B Corp community is a growing global movement that actively seeks to drive a sustainable, social and fair future. Every B Corp is committed to regularly measuring, disclosing and continuously improving its social and environmental impact.

B Corp certification is therefore only awarded to those who have nothing to hide and are really doing something good for the world.

There are over 7500 certified B Corps worldwide, including companies such as Patagonia, The Guardian Media Group and Ben & Jerry's. In Germany, there were exactly 100 certified B Corps in December 2023.

everdrop stands for vegan household and personal care products that are manufactured completely without animal testing. This has always been the case, but we are proud that both the Vegan Society and the animal welfare organization PETA have now certified our entire range of household and personal care products.

Since March 2022, we finally have 100% certified green electricity in our beautiful office in Munich-Thalkirchen. Already since we moved in in the spring of 2021, we have a heat pump, thanks to which we can heat with renewable energy (geothermal heat). Thus, our office is finally operated completely emission-free since this March.

Our dishwasher tabs were named the clear test winner in the Stiftung Warentest (02/2024)! We are super proud that we were able to beat the entire industry not only in terms of sustainability, but also for the first time in terms of product quality.

So everything is brilliant? Almost. Our naked tabs, which are completely free of plastic, microplastics or PVA film, are packaged for you by hand with lots of love and care. However, this also means that they are a little more expensive than less efficient and less sustainable products from other brands. But why do we use handmade products at all? Because there is no other way.

We have not yet managed to find a manufacturer that can package our plastic-free tabs automatically. The entire industry is geared towards tabs with plastic! We are therefore now working with a partner to develop a machine that can also process plastic-free tabs automatically. Our hope is that this will significantly reduce the production costs of the tabs and allow us to lower the price.

Unfortunately, in some cases, our customers receive our washing-up liquid powder in lumps. Important: The consistency has no effect on the performance of the dishwashing liquid - you can use it as usual! Nevertheless, it is of course not ideal that the powder does not trickle as it should and is therefore more difficult to get into the bottle.

The reason for this is our paper sachets, which unfortunately do not protect the dishwashing liquid powder sufficiently in the event of very large temperature fluctuations or very high humidity. To our knowledge, there is currently no single plastic-free packaging solution on the market that would work better here. (We are still looking for one. Are you a packaging expert or packaging wizard and perhaps you can help us with this? Please get in touch!)

In the event that you receive a sachet with lumpy powder yourself, here is a little pro-tip from our Product Team: In some cases, shaking the sachet several times is enough to loosen the powder. For really tough cases, we recommend pouring the powder into a larger container (e.g. a bowl) and loosening it with a fork, for example. You can then use a funnel to trickle the powder into the everdrop bottle filled with water. Shake a few times and your dishwashing liquid is ready in the usual quality!

Unfortunately, our rHDPE bottles are still not made of 100% recyclate: It's 98% for rinse aid and body wash and 99% for the toilet cleaner.

Just a little short of the mark. But why is it not 100%? Although the body of the bottle is made entirely from recycled material, it is dyed and printed so that you know which product you are holding in your hand. A few color pigments are used for this printing, which are not yet available in recycled form.

For some textile products we have not yet succeeded in finding a sustainable supplier in Europe. Therefore, we source them from India. There we have trustworthy partners who process the local cotton under fair conditions directly on site. This is also certified by the GOTS seal. Nevertheless, we are of course aware that a supplier in Europe would better meet our own sustainability requirements, if only because of the transport routes. We now source some of our textiles, such as our knitted dishcloths, from Turkey. Here, too, we have a trustworthy partner who is GOTS-certified.

We have received feedback from some customers that the washing powder trickles out of the packaging. We do not yet have a solution to this problem. The cardboard packaging - made from at least 85% (38WL) or at least 95% (19WL) recycled cardboard - is fully recyclable, but not 100% sealable. There is currently only one alternative: plastic packaging. And that is no alternative for us.

Did you know that the everdrop team is almost 75 percent female? We love that. Which makes it a bit embarrassing that our four-person C-level is still 100 percent male. Promise: The future of the everdrop leadership level is more female and diverse.