Popular but polarizing Tide Pods could soon be a product of the past.
On Friday, Tide parent company Procter & Gamble unveiled a new laundry detergent product called “tiles” at the South by Southwest festival.
Tide evo — as the white squares have been branded — will launch next month in Colorado before a nationwide rollout later this year.
Tide said it “listened to consumers’ voices” in developing the tiles, which come in recyclable paper packaging.
The tiles activate in water and are designed for cold washes, made up of “tens of thousands of minuscule fibers,” Tide said, “creating layers of soap without unnecessary liquid and fillers.”
“Tide evo embodies over a decade of research and development, signifying a major advancement in how we approach cleanliness and efficiency in our daily lives,” said P&G Fabric & Home Care CEO Sundar Raman.
Evo’s predecessor, Tide Pods, launched in 2012 to enormous fanfare, crossing $500 million in sales within a year.
But the pods’ candy-like look spawned jokes online and social media challenges where people purportedly ate them.
P&G added a bitter agent to the pods, warnings to keep them away from kids, and launched an ad campaign with footballer Rob Gronkowski to crack down on the trend.
But more recently, laundry pods have come under fire over environmental concerns.
A City Council member in New York City introduced a bill last month to ban the sale of pods containing a type of plastic called polyvinyl alcohol, or PVA, Bloomberg reported, citing waterway pollution.
P&G told Bloomberg at the time that PVA “does not contribute to microplastic pollution.”
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.
