Nice article on eco-friendly Dropps as featured on http://www.philadelphiasustainabilityawards.org

Jonathan Propper's family created and owned the Conshohocken Cotton Company, a pioneer in the early 80s in developing a heavier cotton yarn used by Perry Ellis and Ralph Lauren. Seeking a better way to clean cotton, Jonathan's family developed Cot n' Wash, in 1986, a patented concentrated liquid detergent that earned top review for efficacy in leading consumer rating magazine.

Cot'n Wash Inc. is a privately-held, Philadelphia based business, that was sold in 1996 and was repurchased in the fall of 2005 by Jonathan Propper

.Noticing the trend toward high efficiency washing machines and convenience, Jonathan saw how the Cot n' Wash formula could translate into a new consumer product that could change the way consumers do laundry by offering conservation, convenience and results.

Jonathan put a lot of thought into creating an environmentally friendly product. dropps are biodegradable and NPE- and phosphate-free, and dropps is packaged in a stand-up pouch to reduce its environmental footprint. dropps offers a convenient way to protect the planet -- the highly concentrated formula is made without the water that traditional laundry detergents needlessly waste. By eliminating water, Jonathan was able to gain the intellectual property to put dropps liquid detergent in a water soluble film, thereby doing away with the lugging, pouring and measuring associated with traditional laundry detergents. As a result, less packaging (plastic and corrugated), less fuel required to transport lighter water-free dropps and less gas emissions.

dropps is available nationally and in the Philadelphia region at Whole Foods, Target, Wal-mart, Mapes and Killians Hardware and Mapes.
Sustainability Narrative

There is currently a lot of talk and media coverage about environmental sustainability, but for the average consumer, it can be confusing, with many wondering how they can personally make a difference. The makers of dropps put a lot of thought into creating a truly 'green' product. With the move in the market toward concentrated detergents and High Efficiency washers, dropps saw a great opportunity to develop a product that can eliminate the waste currently inherent in the household cleaning industry, addressing not just the cleaning formula in the package, but the packaging itself.

Few consumers realize that most traditional laundry detergents are 75% water; even the new '2X concentrates' are 50% water. dropps asked why consumers should pay for this excess water, when water is added during the washing process. In fact, dropps calculated that an average town of 20,000 could save over 55,000 gallons of water per year simply by using dropps instead of traditional detergents. And if you factor in commercial laundry operations, the savings can be even greater. Because dropps does not contain water, less packaging (plastic and corrugated) and less fuel are required to transport dropps and with dropps pre-measured packets you do not overdose your laundry with detergent.

dropps are biodegradable and NPE- and phosphate-free, and dropps has not only paid attention to what is in the laundry detergent formula but also how it was packaged. Laundry detergent bottles -the standard packaging for liquid laundry detergent - are more difficult to recycle than the highly publicized drinking-water bottle. Laundry detergent jugs are made of 75% non-recycled virgin material, and the caps, which cannot be recycled, are almost always sent to landfills. dropps patented delivery system first came to market with a PET 100% recyclable plastic package, and with a recent upgrading, we've chosen another package, a stand-up pouch, with an even smaller environmental footprint.

The makers of dropps are passionate about achieving sparkly clean results without the waste.
Results

The environmental impact of dropps is huge. Laundry is chore that all Americans do, and 70% of Americans use liquid laundry detergent. Traditional liquid laundry detergent jugs are loaded with water, use only 25% post consumer plastic, and have caps that are non-recyclable. Traditional detergents also only have one benefit per bottle, i.e. one bottle is for high efficiency washing machines and another bottle allows you to use cold water for your wash. dropps has multiple benefits loaded within one small pac. dropps can be used in high efficiency machines and in cold water washes, which saves the consumer energy and water. dropps saves even more water by eliminating water completely from its formula. The elimination of water reduces the overall weight of the package thereby using less cardboard to pack dropps, and less energy and gasoline to transport them. Best of all, there is no way to waste with dropps. Traditional liquid laundry detergent requires pouring and measurement; the more you pour, the more you use. Detergent companies want consumers to overuse. We don't. We've figured out how much detergent you need for each load, so that you don't waste and you get what you paid for. If the average family used cold water for washing, they would save $65 per year in energy costs.

In addition, in the U.S., liquid laundry detergent is used for 25 billion wash loads every year. If these loads were done with dropps instead of the usual cup and jug, we would save:

1. 6,233,726 gallons of diesel gas in transport
2. 267,968,750 pounds of plastic
3. 622,373 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in transport

We have also taken great lengths to make sure that no harmful toxins go into dropps. The dropps formula is phosphate-free, NPE-free, enzyme-free and biodegradable. Not only is what goes in the detergent important, but so is the packaging itself. We have recently switched from a 100% PET clamshell package to a Flex Pac stand-up pouch. The PET clamshell was a big step away from detergent jugs, but there were still too many additional pieces of the packaging. The stand-up pouch is one piece that flattens completely when empty, and leaves the smallest footprint of any liquid laundry detergent packaging. As dropps gain greater distribution the impact of the product will continue to grow and we will continue to cut down on waste as a whole.

http://www.philadelphiasustainabilityawards.org/node/332