Blueland

Blueland sells household cleaners as small tablets that you dissolve in water at home, in a bottle or tin you keep forever. It started with spray cleaners and hand soap and now covers dishwasher tablets, laundry tablets, toilet bowl cleaner, dish soap powder and an oxygen laundry booster. The refills come in compostable paper packaging instead of plastic jugs and pods, and you can have them delivered on a schedule with Blueland Autoship.

Our take: Blueland is the easiest way we know to cut the plastic out of your cleaning cabinet without giving up convenience. The refills are cheap, the subscription is fair and easy to manage, and the products are good for everyday cleaning. It is not the cheapest way to clean, and natural dishwasher tablets will not suit every machine or water type, so start small.

How Blueland works

The idea is simple. You buy a reusable container once: a refillable Forever Bottle for sprays and hand soap, or a Forever Tin for tablets. After that you only buy refills.

• Sprays and hand soap: fill the bottle with warm water to the line, drop in a tablet, let it dissolve and replace the nozzle. One hand soap tablet makes one full bottle of foaming soap.
• Dishwasher, laundry and toilet: these are tablets you use as is. Drop one in the dishwasher dispenser, the washing machine drum or the toilet bowl.
• Dish soap and Oxi booster: powders that refill a shaker or tin.

Because you only ship tablets and powder, not water, the refills are light and compact. The tablets are formulated in the US, the bottles are designed in the US and made in China. Unopened cleaning and hand soap tablets keep for 2 years, and a dissolved bottle keeps for 1 year.

Blueland Autoship: the subscription explained

Blueland calls its subscription Autoship, and it is optional: every product can also be bought one time. Here is how it works:

• 20% off your first Autoship order, then roughly 10% off every recurring refill.
• Every 3 months by default. You can switch each product to every 3 or 6 months.
• 5% back in rewards on Autoship purchases, compared with 3% on one time orders.
• A reminder email 3 days before each order, and you can make changes until 12 PM EST the day before it ships.
• Skip, Order Now or cancel from the Autoship tab of your account, at no charge.

To save on packaging and shipping, Blueland groups your Autoship items into one delivery. New subscriptions that fall within 45 days of an existing one ship together on the earlier date, and you can no longer delay individual products, only skip them for 3 or 6 months. Fewer boxes, but a bit less flexibility.

Autoship is only available in the US. There is no formal gift subscription, but Blueland suggests setting one up with the recipient’s address and your card.

Blueland prices

These are the US prices on blueland.com for the most popular products. The Autoship column is the recurring refill price after your discounted first order.

That works out to about 35 cents per dishwasher or laundry load at the one time price, and about 31 cents on Autoship. The biggest packs, such as 240 dishwasher or 300 laundry tablets, and the “1 Year of” bundles, take another 10% off if you have the storage space. Kits are discounted against buying the pieces separately, by 15% to 33% depending on the kit.

Shipping is free on US orders over $50. Below that, Autoship refill orders ship for $1.99 and other orders for $4.99, which is a good reason to bundle refills into one Autoship box.

What to buy first

Blueland’s starter kits are where most people begin, and the choice depends on what you want to replace:

• Clean Essentials Kit: hand soap plus multi-surface, bathroom and glass and mirror sprays. The best start if your goal is fewer plastic spray bottles.
• Tablet Trio Kit: dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent and toilet bowl cleaner, each with a Forever Tin. The best start if you mainly want to drop plastic pods and jugs.
• Clean Suite Kit: almost the whole range, from laundry and Oxi booster to dish soap powder, hand soap and sprays, at a 33% kit saving.

Most products come in a Free and Clear version with no added fragrance, which is a plus for sensitive noses. Laundry tablets also come in scents like Spring Bloom and Lavender Sage, and hand soap comes in a rotating list of scents, including seasonal editions. Blueland also launched PowerDuo, a two layer laundry tablet it says has 50% more cleaning power than its original tablet.

Does Blueland actually clean well?

For everyday cleaning, yes. The sprays are made for counters, sealed stone, wood, glass, tubs and tiles, and the foaming hand soap gives a rich lather. Blueland says its products are tested alongside major brands at an independent lab, and its kits and refills carry ratings of 4.7 to 4.8 out of 5 from tens of thousands of reviews on its own site.

The dishwasher tablets are the product people search for most, and they face the toughest test. Plant and mineral based tablets can leave spots in very hard water or struggle with baked on food. If that is your situation, try a single 60 tablet pack before an Autoship of a year’s supply, and keep the 100 day free return window in mind.

On safety, Blueland says its formulas are safe around kids and pets and free from microplastics, parabens, ammonia, phthalates and chlorine bleach. Its products are EPA Safer Choice and Cradle to Cradle certified, and Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free.

Is Blueland worth it?

If reducing plastic in your home matters to you, Blueland is worth it. It is one of the most complete plastic free cleaning ranges, the Autoship terms are clear and fair, and returns are free for 100 days. If your only goal is the lowest cost per load, store brand pods and sprays will usually be cheaper.

Pros

• Plastic free refills for almost every cleaning job in the house
• 20% off the first Autoship order, about 10% off after
• Free shipping over $50, only $1.99 on smaller Autoship orders
• Fragrance free options across the range
• Free returns for 100 days in the US

Cons

• More expensive per load than store brands
• Dishwasher tablets can struggle in very hard water
• Autoship only every 3 or 6 months, items ship together
• No phone support, email only
• Autoship is US only, no shipping to Hawaii

Blueland vs other eco cleaning subscriptions

Blueland’s closest rivals are other tablet and refill brands, and online stores that sell them:

• Blueland vs Thrive Market: Thrive is a membership online grocery store that sells many eco cleaning brands next to food. Better if you want to bundle cleaning supplies with your groceries.
• Blueland vs MightyNest MightyFix: a monthly box of one non toxic, low waste home product. Better for discovering new swaps, while Blueland is better for restocking the basics.
• Blueland vs Alltrue: a seasonal box of sustainable home and lifestyle products, more of a treat than a refill service.

For more ideas, see our eco friendly subscription boxes and home subscription boxes.

Blueland discount codes

The most reliable discount needs no code: 20% off your first Autoship order. The 1 Year bundles save another 10%, and kits save 15% to 33%. Blueland also offers verified discounts through Student Beans for military members (18% off), healthcare workers, first responders, teachers, students and other groups, and sends offers to its email list. Rewards points on every order add up as well. Digital gift cards are available in $25, $50 and $100 values.

Shipping, returns and how to cancel

Blueland usually ships within 2 to 3 business days. It ships to the US, including Puerto Rico, and to Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand for one time orders. Returns are free on US orders within 100 days of shipment, for a refund or store credit; international orders cannot be returned.

To cancel Autoship, log into your account, open the Autoship tab and cancel each product you no longer want. If you have several products, you need to cancel each one. Do it by 12 PM EST the day before your next order ships, and there is no fee. Customer service is by email at [email protected]; Blueland has no phone line.