Accessibility Statement

Yes, our pods have a film. No, it doesn't make microplastics.

You've seen the claims. We get it — a pod looks like a plastic wrapper, and the word "polymer" doesn't exactly calm nerves. So let's get the facts about what pod film is, what it isn't, and what actually happens to it in your wash.

Show me the science

The weight of independent peer-reviewed research* supports PVOH's safety. We’ve put everything on the table - you decide. 

What exactly is PVOH?

  • Polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH, also written PVA) is a water-soluble synthetic polymer made of just three atoms: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen.

  • That's the complete list: just the same three atoms found in table sugar.

  • Not all PVOH behaves the same way — and this distinction is central to understanding why it's safe in your laundry pod.


Not all PVOH is the same - some breaks down, some doesn’t.


97% OF ALL PVOH

Water-resistant

Rigid, hard to dissolve. Used in industrial adhesives, paper coatings, textile sizings. Not what we use.

THINK: GLUE OR FISHING NETS

★ OUR PODS

<3% OF ALL PVOH

Highly Water Soluble

Dissolves readily in water. Used in laundry and dishwasher pods, laundry sheets, pharmaceutical capsules, eye drops, and breath strips.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

From pod to drain to gone.

①

Pod meets water

The PVOH film contacts water and begins to dissolve immediately — not break apart. From solid to solution.

②

Full dissolution

The film becomes individual polymer chains in solution — like sugar dissolving in water.

③

Down the drain

Dissolved PVOH chains travel with the wash water into the municipal wastewater system.

④

Biodegradation

Dozens of species of bacteria, yeasts, and fungi in standard wastewater treatment plants consume PVOH as a carbon source.

⑤

CO₂ + water

The microorganisms break the PVOH chains down completely into carbon dioxide and water. Nothing persistent remains.

Source: Chiellini et al., Progress in Polymer Science, 2003 (reviewing 190+ peer-reviewed papers); Byrne et al., De Gruyter, 2021; OECD 301 test results on Dropps pod film.

You've trusted this ingredient your whole life. You just never knew its name.

The water-soluble film around a Dropps pod uses the same category of material — FDA-recognized PVOH — found across an enormous range of everyday consumer, personal care, and medical products.

Dropps Laundry Pods

Pod Film

Dropps Dish Pods

Pod Film

Contact lens solution

Viscosity enhancer

Vitamin capsules

Edible film - FDA GRAS

Laundry sheets

Detergent sheet carrier

Breath freshener

Orally dissolvable film

THE SCIENCE EXPLAINED

Independent parties who have reviewed PVOH and found it safe

U.S. EPA Safer Choice

Green circle (preferred status). Upheld after formal petition challenge, April 2023.

FDA — GRAS status.

Generally Recognized As Safe for oral and ophthalmic use (GRN 000122).

EPA CleanGredients

Listed on the definitive database of EPA Safer Choice–approved cleaning ingredients.

EU REACH (2023)

PVOH film explicitly exempted from EU synthetic microparticle restrictions (Reg. EU 2023/2055).

50+ independent peer-reviewed papers* say the same thing.

A significant body of work supports PVOH biodegradation through natural microbial mechanisms. Here are the key studies cited by the EPA in its own review.

We think honesty is the best ingredient policy.

We use PVOH because the weight of independent science and regulatory oversight supports its safety. Not because it's perfect, and not because the conversation is over.


The real microplastic crisis is real — and it comes from synthetic clothing fibers, tire wear particles, and conventional plastic packaging. Those sources aren't in dispute. Conflating water-soluble, biodegradable pod film with persistent plastic pollution doesn't help solve it.


We'll keep watching the science. If the evidence changes, our formulas will change with it. In the meantime, you have the full picture — and every source we've cited is linked above so you can check it yourself.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Still have questions? Good.

  • Are laundry pods plastic?

    It depends what you mean by 'plastic.' The film around our pods is made from PVOH (polyvinyl alcohol), a synthetic polymer — and technically, polymers are the chemical family that includes plastics. But the word 'plastic' in everyday use typically means something persistent: a bag, a bottle, something that sticks around in the environment. PVOH doesn't behave that way. It dissolves completely in water, doesn't fragment into large solid particles, and biodegrades in wastewater treatment. Calling it 'plastic' in the pollution sense misrepresents what it actually is and does.