Eco washing/cleaning products?
Discussion
The wife is keen to try to make the move to more eco-friendly household products (both in terms of the product itself as well as the packaging/refills etc.)
Does anyone use any of these type of products? Do they actually do a good job of cleaning or does the lack of chemicals render them useless?
Does anyone use any of these type of products? Do they actually do a good job of cleaning or does the lack of chemicals render them useless?
I try and buy goods without plastic packaging but that isn't easy with liquids.
Some brands are making big sizes, for example 5 litres of washing up liquid, so save your smaller containers for refilling, Method sell 2 litres of sprays for kitchen and bathroom, again so that you can refill small spray bottles.
Eco make a one litre All Purpose Cleaner which can be thinned right down for cleaning, say 50 ml to 450ml water plus a dash of washing up liquid, again save your spray bottles for refilling.
Best quality microfibre cloths will do a lot of the work for you and alternative products such as white vinegar are good for the pocket.
Some brands are making big sizes, for example 5 litres of washing up liquid, so save your smaller containers for refilling, Method sell 2 litres of sprays for kitchen and bathroom, again so that you can refill small spray bottles.
Eco make a one litre All Purpose Cleaner which can be thinned right down for cleaning, say 50 ml to 450ml water plus a dash of washing up liquid, again save your spray bottles for refilling.
Best quality microfibre cloths will do a lot of the work for you and alternative products such as white vinegar are good for the pocket.
K87 said:
I try and buy goods without plastic packaging but that isn't easy with liquids.
Some brands are making big sizes, for example 5 litres of washing up liquid, so save your smaller containers for refilling, Method sell 2 litres of sprays for kitchen and bathroom, again so that you can refill small spray bottles.
Eco make a one litre All Purpose Cleaner which can be thinned right down for cleaning, say 50 ml to 450ml water plus a dash of washing up liquid, again save your spray bottles for refilling.
Best quality microfibre cloths will do a lot of the work for you and alternative products such as white vinegar are good for the pocket.
This re the vinegar, we use it for loads, a cup of it cleans a dishwaster better than the fancy cleaners, good for toilets, great for windows, even works on limescale, its replaced most of our cleaning things now, and costs pence.Some brands are making big sizes, for example 5 litres of washing up liquid, so save your smaller containers for refilling, Method sell 2 litres of sprays for kitchen and bathroom, again so that you can refill small spray bottles.
Eco make a one litre All Purpose Cleaner which can be thinned right down for cleaning, say 50 ml to 450ml water plus a dash of washing up liquid, again save your spray bottles for refilling.
Best quality microfibre cloths will do a lot of the work for you and alternative products such as white vinegar are good for the pocket.
We used soap nuts for our washing for a few years but unfortunately switched to the normal products as they weren’t good at getting rid of smells or sweat and stains.
We use liquid rather than powder as it’s less abrasive on the clothes and less micro plastics to come out of the clothes.
We also use the home things sprays for windows, bathrooms, general purpose as they are tablets you add to water and have less chemicals in them.
We use liquid rather than powder as it’s less abrasive on the clothes and less micro plastics to come out of the clothes.
We also use the home things sprays for windows, bathrooms, general purpose as they are tablets you add to water and have less chemicals in them.
We have tried a few eco friendly cleaning products, smol seems to ring a bell for the washing machine, we also tried these refillable surface cleaner products but the sprayer kept on breaking plus they weren't that great anyway we always ended up going back to the tried and tested common products as they are cheaper, more convenient and work better.
I say "we", tbh it should read "the wife"!
I say "we", tbh it should read "the wife"!
This house is big on White Vinegar for basic cleaning - not bought any Anti-Bac or Bathroom-specific stuff in ages
Washing-up liquid and floor cleaner are Eco stuff from a local refill shop in plastic bottles we've had for years now.
Washing Liquid and Dishwasher Tablets are delivered through the post by Smol - cardboard packaging and no plastics.
Costs more than cheap supermarket products but about the same as name brands overall (although that's mostly using Vinegar rather than loads of different specialist things).
Washing-up liquid and floor cleaner are Eco stuff from a local refill shop in plastic bottles we've had for years now.
Washing Liquid and Dishwasher Tablets are delivered through the post by Smol - cardboard packaging and no plastics.
Costs more than cheap supermarket products but about the same as name brands overall (although that's mostly using Vinegar rather than loads of different specialist things).
Edited by Mark-C on Thursday 16th November 12:49
Simpo Two said:
If she's happy to make no difference to the environment, but just pay more for something that seems likely not to work so well, why not?
Better is to use normal cleaning products but waste less IMHO. Most people seem to twice as much washing-up liquid as they need.
Refills and less plastic packaging certainly have a positive environmental impact, unfortunately most of the actual eco products are inferior in performance. The exception being things like vinegar, lemon, bicarb etc which are pretty good when used correctly.Better is to use normal cleaning products but waste less IMHO. Most people seem to twice as much washing-up liquid as they need.
After fighting with the utility waste and finding it clogged with fabric conditioner build up, I bought an eco egg. It should save on powder, conditioner and is more environmentally friendly (allegedly).
So far so good and I actually prefer it.
I also bought the tumble dryer eggs and these seem good too, although I've not timed the drying cycle to verify the energy claims.
So far so good and I actually prefer it.
I also bought the tumble dryer eggs and these seem good too, although I've not timed the drying cycle to verify the energy claims.
The laundry arrangements at London hotels are massive consumers of energy. The Dorchester Hotel undertook a lot of research to see if bedding etc could be cleaned when washed at 30 as compared to the usual 40c.
The result was no discernible difference for a 30% reduction in energy consumption.
The default program on my Samsung washing machine is at 40-60, I now override the default to 30 unless it is an unusual wash load.
The result was no discernible difference for a 30% reduction in energy consumption.
The default program on my Samsung washing machine is at 40-60, I now override the default to 30 unless it is an unusual wash load.
We use smol dishwasher tablets and have been for a few years. No need for salt/rinse either, so less waste there. I do find if you run too many 1/2 load cycles in succession there's a build up of a kind of residue that coats everything, quickly gets worse unless you do a proper clean.
Elsewhere, ecover toilet cleaner - seems to work fine. Oceansaver for bathroom and kitchen cleaners (after switching from smol), in the smol re-usable bottles. Smol glass cleaner wasn't very good, smells odd and leaves streaks. Everything else seems to work just fine, but won't blow you away. Still use Fairy for washing up liquid as nothing else seems to cope with our hard water, and it lasts longer too (I reluctantly agree with the marketing). Would like to use white vinegar a bit more (long story - a bulk order never arrived), so will be watching this with interest.
Washing machine - reusable nappies mean we use massive boxes of Fairy non-bio powder, no plastic packaging at all but the product itself isn't so 'eco'.
We've also switched back to bar soaps instead of shower gel bottles (although ones with zero plastic seem to cost 2-5x as much), and no more aerosol deodorants either. We might dispose of maybe 3 bottles a year from shampoo usage, partly because my wife orders 1ltr ones. Not yet tried a shampoo bar, I don't think my wife will make that switch.
Elsewhere, ecover toilet cleaner - seems to work fine. Oceansaver for bathroom and kitchen cleaners (after switching from smol), in the smol re-usable bottles. Smol glass cleaner wasn't very good, smells odd and leaves streaks. Everything else seems to work just fine, but won't blow you away. Still use Fairy for washing up liquid as nothing else seems to cope with our hard water, and it lasts longer too (I reluctantly agree with the marketing). Would like to use white vinegar a bit more (long story - a bulk order never arrived), so will be watching this with interest.
Washing machine - reusable nappies mean we use massive boxes of Fairy non-bio powder, no plastic packaging at all but the product itself isn't so 'eco'.
We've also switched back to bar soaps instead of shower gel bottles (although ones with zero plastic seem to cost 2-5x as much), and no more aerosol deodorants either. We might dispose of maybe 3 bottles a year from shampoo usage, partly because my wife orders 1ltr ones. Not yet tried a shampoo bar, I don't think my wife will make that switch.
Quhet said:
Ecover works well for us and we've got a refill point at the local chemists so use that. It's a bit more expensive than the 'normal' stuff but gives us a lovely middle-class warm glow of smugness/self-satisfaction 
We mail order the 'refil' box.Cardboard box, with a plastic bag liner, much like a 'box of wine' in which there is over a years worth of detergent and almost no plastic at all.
Makes the whole '5% less plastic' claims of supermarket available bottles of the stuff.
Typically used at 30deg for all our coloured and general washing.
Then for whites we wan to be a bit brighter, I occasionally use a box of Fairy powder, and or, a scoop of vanish oxy action.
General surface cleaner, limescale remover, etc also from Ecover typically. Or a gallon of flash all purpose.
For the dishes I cant find an 'Eco' product which works well, so we use Fairy original, sparingly, buying the huge bottle and toping up a smaller one with them.
Soap, we use bars basically everywhere other than the kitchen, typically 'Simple' soap. For the kitchen we bought a gallon of 'Miniml' handsoap which we reuse and existing pumptop bottle.
Shampoo, mainly we just use TResume, because it comes in large bottles and is cost effective. We dont like the shampoo bars we have tried.
Workshop hand cleaner is now all zero microplastics, which is nice.
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