Ethical Cleaning Products

Ethical Cleaning Products

This guide covers all-purpose, kitchen, bathroom, oven, carpet and floor cleaners, disinfectant and bleach brands. There is a separate guide to toilet cleaners. 

Supermarket shelves are full of rows and rows of different cleaners for different household jobs, all seemingly with different formulations specially devised for the job, but in reality, most cleaners contain the same basic ingredients. 

However, some ingredients are toxic, most are based on petrochemicals from the oil industry and most use antibacterial chemicals and synthetic fragrances. None of these ingredients are necessary. 

Fortunately there are a number of plant based and more natural cleaners available.

Most of these cleaners come in plastic bottles and most people now acknowledge that we need to reduce the use of single use plastic bottles and reuse them. Most companies are now making moves to do this with either recycled plastic content, concentrates, refills, no plastic packaging, or even no packaging at all.

You can also make your own cleaners from simpler products such as white vinegar, soda crystals and citric acid to deal with most cleaning jobs around the home.

Which cleaning brands are in this guide?

We've included the big name brands like Cif, Domestos, Flash and Mr Muscle, along with mainstream companies with some eco claims such as Ecover and Method, and smaller independent brands. With scores ranging from 4 to 95 (out of 100), there is plenty of scope to find an ethical cleaning product and avoid buying the lowest scoring brands.

Who makes which brands of household cleaning products?

Quite a few of the big name cleaning brands are actually made by the same company. 

Check the list below to see who makes some of the main high street cleaning products:

• Flash, Microban 24, Viakal: Procter & Gamble
• Ecover, Method, Mr. Muscle, Pledge: SC Johnson
• Cif, Domestos, Lifebouy: Unilever
• Dettol, Vanish: Reckitt Benckiser

Animal testing and cruelty-free cleaning products

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. 

Ethical Consumer rates companies on their animal testing policy. 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 - Best 

• Astonish, Bio-D, Fill Refill, Greenscents, Homethings, SESI, Smol, 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.
• OceanSaver – ‘Cruelty free’ but lacked certification (though was in the process of getting it), no animal derivatives.

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.

Are household cleaning products suitable for vegans?

Vegans may want to read up on different animal testing labels and certification schemes, as some cleaning products may contain animal ingredients. 

We have a quick guide to vegan cleaning products to help demystify the labels and what to look for.

Reducing plastic waste when buying household cleaners

Most household cleaners come in single-use plastic bottles but there are five main ways you can reduce plastic waste: refills, bulk buying, concentrates, alternative products and making your own.

Liquid refill stations

Using refill stations significantly reduces the plastic packaging impact of your purchases. 

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 who stock refills. (See our guide to eco supermarkets for the best of national companies of these.)

Refill focused brands

We’ve also seen a boom in consumer interest in refill-focused companies, like Splosh, SESI, Fill Refill and Miniml.

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': Bio-D, ecoleaf, Ecover, and Greenscents. 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 recently 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.

Recycled packaging, refills, bulk sizes and concentrated cleaning products - who sells what

The best are those that are plastic-free or only do refill products. Of the big best-selling brands, only Unilever seems to be making an effort.

Best for reducing plastic

• Greenscents – bulk sizes, which can be returned to them for reuse, and refill stations. 
• Bio D – bulk sizes and refill stations. All bottles are 100% recycled plastic, apart from 20 litre refill containers which can be returned to refill.
• SESI – refill only from stockists
• Fill Refill - Supplied in 500ml glass bottles & jars and/or 5/10l 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 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.

How ethical is Astonish?

A lot of people will see Astonish cleaning products on the UK high street, especially in bargain stores like Savers and 'pound' shops.

Astonish products are made in the UK and it says it's a vegan company. It scores 100/100 for animal testing policies, and also scores well for harmful chemicals. 

Overall it is a middle scorer in this guide, and scores above all the big names. 

It may come as a surprise to many that it also scores above Ecover and Method, due to the problems with their parent company SC Johnson. 

Palm oil in cleaning products

Greenscents was the only company which was completely palm oil 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).
 

Are there harmful ingredients in household cleaning products?

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. 

This is a web-only guide which hasn't appeared in our magazine. Similar cleaning and home appliance guides can be found in magazine 209.