Toilet Cleaners

Finding an eco-friendly toilet cleaner

We look at the key environmental issues, and the most eco-friendly and cruelty-free options.

Most toilet cleaners contain the same basic ingredients, although some use more bleach, while others are palm oil free, vegan-friendly or organic. 

Nearly all come in plastic bottles, although many companies are making moves to reduce single-use plastics with either recycled plastic content, concentrates, refills, no plastic packaging at all or even no packaging.

We identify which are doing that best, and show how to make your own environmentally-friendly toilet cleaner from white vinegar and soda crystals.

In this guide we include some of the big name toilet leaning products like Domestos, Duck, and Mr Muscle, alongside brands like Ecover, Method and Astonish, some small independent brands like Bio D and Greenscents. 

Damaging ingredients in toilet cleaners

Unfortunately, most toilet cleaners contain ingredients which can be harmful to human health and the environment. We look at some common ingredients and chemicals found in toilet cleaners.

Chlorine Bleach

Toilet cleaners usually contain chlorine bleach to kill off bacteria and microbes. Many mainstream toilet cleaner makers portray the toilet bowl as one of the dirtiest places in the house and claim we need to use these deadly chemicals to keep ourselves safe.

Chlorine bleach (aka sodium hypochlorite) is a corrosive chemical, toxic if ingested, an eye and respiratory irritant, can irritate the lungs and eyes, and in waterways can become toxic organochlorines, compounds rarely found in nature and which can take centuries to decompose. The industry says that chlorine bleach traces are present at such low concentrations in waste waters, that there is no real possibility of the formation of trace toxic by-products.

According to Lucy Siegle in The Guardian:

"But the real ethical issue centres around manufacture. Bleach is from the organochlorine family of chemicals, compounds rarely found in nature and which can take centuries to decompose. Greenpeace has called for a complete end to organochlorine production.

“Bleach does the job, but what is the job and is it necessary? As we live in the Age of Bacteria immunologist, Gerald N Callahan, sums up: 'Neither humans nor micro-organisms benefit from fully destroying the other. This is not a war, as it has often been described, even though we have an impressive array of weapons - bactericidal cribs and mattresses, toilet cleaners... If it were (a war), we would have lost long ago, overpowered by sheer numbers and evolutionary speed. This is... like a waltz that will last for all of human history. We must hold to our partners carefully and dance well.'"

Are there harmful ingredients in my toilet cleaner?

Our harmful ingredients category awards companies for explicitly excluding certain ingredients that are harmful to human health. These are triclosan, phthalates, parabens, and formaldehyde. There are other potentially harmful ingredients, but we think that if a company has excluded these four, it’s a good indication that they’re likely to prohibit all of the most toxic ingredients.

All of our best buys brands named all four as excluded. 

Is there palm oil in toilet cleaners?

Greenscents was the only company which was completely palm free.

Most companies in our detergent guides did have all their palm ingredients certified, including all or most of the derivatives.

We applied the following rating for palm oil if fully certified:

• brands with a turnover over £100m a year scored 40 (out of 100)
• between £10m-£100m scored 60, and under £10m scored 80. 

Companies which did not meet our usual criteria but had taken some action on palm ingredients scored 20. This included: Astonish, Kit & Kin, and McBride (Clean n Fresh).

Animal testing and cruelty-free toilet cleaners

The UK Government banned the testing of ‘finished’ household products on animals in 2015, and introduced a ‘qualified ban’ on testing the ingredients on animals. But it’ll make little difference to animal welfare. This is because no animals have been used for testing ‘finished’ household products in the UK since 2010. It’s usually the ingredients not the ‘finished’ products that are tested on animals. 

To get full marks in our animal category, a company had to be certified cruelty free (operate a fixed cut-off date) and not use any animal-derived ingredients.

Below are the brands that scored 50 and above, and what certification scheme/s they use.

100/100

• Astonish, Bio-D, Fill Refill, Greenscents, SESI, Splosh – Leaping Bunny certified and animal derivative free.

70/100

• Attitude, Kit & Kin, Miniml – ‘Cruelty free’ but lacked certification, no animal derivatives.
• Ecoleaf (Suma) – Had a fixed cut-off date for all own-brand products and required all retailed household goods and cosmetics to be certified cruelty free. Suma is a vegetarian company and sold a number of animal products such as dairy, eggs, and honey, but 90% of its products are vegan and all Ecoleaf products are vegan certified.

50/100

• Ecover & Method – Both were Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free and didn’t use any animal derivatives, but lost points due to their parent company SC Johnson.
• Ecozone – Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free and did not use animal derivatives, but it lost points because it is ultimately owned by an investment firm which lacked policies around these issues and invested in healthcare and drug discovery, which are high risk for animal testing. 
• Sodasan – Had a policy not to test on animals, most products were vegan certified except one, which contained the animal derivative ‘Fel Tauri’ (ox bile) powder.
• Sonett – Had a no-animal-testing policy but no fixed-cut-off date, used a small amount of animal derivatives in some products, though most of its laundry products were vegan certified.

Vegan toilet cleaners

Virtually all the toilet cleaners in this guide were either certified or marketed as vegan except for brands made by multinational companies at the bottom of the score table: Easy, Duck, Cillit Bang, Domestos, Harpic, and Viakal.

Organic toilet cleaners

Greenscents was the only organic-certified brand, but Sonett also used a lot of organic materials.

Reducing plastic waste

Most toilet cleaners come in single-use plastic bottles. We noted five main innovations for conscious consumers: refills, bulk buying, concentrates, alternative products and making your own.

Liquid refill stations

Using refill stations significantly reduces the plastic impact of your purchases. This is the best option because super large containers can be used.

Once a fringe ethical phenomenon, more and more shops and companies are now offering refills. And it’s not just local health food shops, alternative supermarkets and zero waste stores (see our guide to eco supermarkets for the best of national companies of these).

Refill only brands

We’ve also seen a boom in consumer interest in refill-focused companies, like Splosh, SESI, Fill Refill and Miniml, who only sell products to refill an existing bottle with.

SESI, Fill Refill and Miniml have wide networks of refill stations, and Fill Refill and Miniml sell directly to consumers too. Splosh send concentrated refill pouches (which you can return to them for recycling) in the post. 

Bulk-buying

Many other companies included in this guide also offered bulk sizes (2 litres to 20 litres) to consumers so they can 'refill at home': ATTITUDE, Bio-D, ecoleaf, Ecover, Greenscents, and Sonett. All of our best buy brands will take containers back for reuse, although for Sonett this is only possible in Germany.

You can also look for bulk containers made from recycled plastics such as Bio-D’s - its uses 100% recycled plastic for all bottles except 20 litres, which can be returned and refilled.

A recent Which? report (May 2021) stated that large bottles of household cleaning products used 47% less plastic and needed less space to be transported.

Both refills and bulk purchases re usually a much cheaper way to buy your household cleaners too.

Concentrated products

The main ingredient in household cleaners is water. Refilling with a concentrated solution that you dilute at home significantly reduces the amount of water being unnecessarily transported around and therefore cuts down on carbon emissions. Plus, they use less packaging.

Which? magazine assessed (May 2021) the environmental impact of different household cleaning products and found that concentrated products used 75% less plastic packaging and 97% less water. The report also found that refill pouches, like those sold by Splosh, used 85% less plastic.

Packaging, refills, bulk sizes and concentrates - who sells what

None of the big best-selling brands were making an effort with their plastic packaging. All were using single use, virgin plastic bottles.

Least plastic use

• Greenscents – bulk sizes, which can be returned to them for reuse, and refill stations. 
• Bio D – bulk sizes and refill stations. Majority of single bottles and bulk sizes are 100% Recycled plastic, apart from 20 litre bulk refill containers.
• SESI – refill only from stockists
• Fill Refill - Supplied in 500ml glass bottles & jars and/or 10l bag-in-box for home refill. Bag can be returned to them for refill. Or refill at stockists.
• Miniml – buy filled PET or glass bottles and/or 5l or 20l containers to refill from home. Containers can be returned to them for reuse. Or refill from stockist.
• Ecoleaf by Suma – 5l and 20l bulk sizes for refill at home and refill stations. All bottles and bulk containers are 100% recycled plastic.