Vacuum cleaners

Vacuum cleaners come in all shapes and sizes: corded and cordless; bagged and bagless; stick, upright, cylinder and handheld. This guide looks at the makers of all these different types and what the issues are when it comes to deciding what to buy.

Unfortunately for eco-conscious or ethical consumers, following a court case by Dyson, there are no energy labels on vacuum cleaners. This can make it harder to assess the energy efficiency of different models.

We also look at manual cleaners and the role they can play in a lower carbon life. These have been made since the 1880s - could they make a come-back as people seek more environmentally-friendly alternatives?

Eco vacuum cleaner?

As vacuum cleaners do not need to have an Energy Label, the only options for consumers looking for an eco-friendly vacuum cleaner are to:

• buy a corded vacuum which is covered by the Ecodesign regulations.
• look at motor size – lower wattage means lower energy use.
• consider buying a manual cleaner to use some of the time instead of a powered vacuum cleaner.

Power usage - small is better

A smaller motor means lower energy use, and according to Which?, a bigger motor with a bigger wattage does not necessarily equate to better cleaning performance.

In 2019, the European Commission said that lower-wattage vacuum cleaners could save up to 20 TWh of electricity per year by 2020, the equivalent of the annual household energy consumption of Belgium.

Corded vacuum power

The power of a corded vacuum cleaner is the most common specification given by a manufacturer and is often used as a selling point. It is usually found under technical specifications on a website and given in watts.

A survey of the corded brands in this guide with an Ethiscore of 8 or more found that most models were between 700W and 900W (the maximum wattage allowed). But Numatic, Bissell, Ewbank, Swan, and Shark all made at least one model with a motor of 450 watts or less.

Numatic advertises its 420W vacuums, the Henry Eco and Numatic ERP180, as having high-efficiency motors because of their 30% reduction in energy usage compared to its models with 620W motors.

Cordless vacuum power 

The power of cordless vacuum cleaners is measured in volts (V) – more volts equals more wattage equals more energy consumed. Overall, cordless vacuums tend to be lower wattage than corded vacuums, but we could not find wattage information for any cordless models.

We found some manufacturers’ websites that indicated battery voltage for some models but not for all, and some manufacturers didn’t indicate voltage at all.

Bagged vs Bagless vacuums

With bagless vacuum cleaners you don’t have the problem of replacing or reusing dust bags. But emptying bagless containers may be an issue for allergy sufferers.

Some manufacturers of bagless vacuums claim that bagged models lose suction as the bag fills up, and that bagless vacs don’t. Some also claim their bagless systems have hygienic emptying features. However, Which? found that both bagged and bagless vacuums can lose suction as the bag or container fills up. They also tested bagless vacs with hygienic emptying features, and found they still released much more dust into the room when emptied than bagged models.

Dust bags for bagged cleaners

You can get both disposable bags and reusable bags for most vacuums either from the vacuum manufacturer or there are loads of other companies that make them.

If disposable then opt for paper ones rather than synthetic so they are at least biodegradable. If reusable then you can get cloth bags that can be washed and reused. You can even empty and reuse paper bags, but the bags act as a filter and need air to pass through them so after a while the paper may get clogged with dust.

Cordless versus Corded vacuums

Both Gtech and Dyson now only make cordless vacuums and they are becoming increasingly prevalent on the market. However, the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that cordless vacuums run on have environmental and social impacts of their own, as we explain below.

In the case of vacuums, where there are many lithium battery-free options – i.e. corded vacuums – cordless and rechargeable vacuums can be easily avoided.

Other drawbacks to cordless vacuums

Which? says that on average:

• The best cordless vac is twice as expensive as the best corded one.
• Cordless vacs suck up 41% of dust from carpets compared to 70% for corded.
• Cordless are less durable than corded and fare less well in reliability tests

Lithium-ion batteries in cordless vacuums

Used in cordless vacuums but also as storage for renewable energy, in mobile phones and in electric cars, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are a crucial step forward in battery technology for tackling climate change. But the mining and processing of this mineral known as ‘white gold’ is problematic.

The big producers of lithium are China, the USA, Australia and South America (Argentina, Bolivia and Chile). In South America, lithium is extracted from brine under salt flats. Its processing uses a lot of water and, because it comes from some of the driest places on earth, local communities and farmers are often deprived of water.

In addition, toxic waste products that are filtered out of the brine and hydrochloric acid used in the processing of lithium, can leak into rivers and the water supply. Where lithium is mined from rock using chemicals, similar contamination of water can occur.

An in-depth investigation by the Washington Post in 2016 focused on the Atacama people in Argentina and their concerns about contamination, water shortages and how much they share in the profits from the operations on their ancestral lands.

Lithium-based batteries also require raw materials like cobalt, nickel and graphite, which further complicate the supply chain. For example, over 20% of cobalt exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s top producer, come from unregulated artisanal mines that often employ children. And for nickel and graphite, producing countries cope with health impacts, pollution and deforestation.

And, like fossil fuels, lithium is a finite resource so there needs to be a circular recycling solution to make its use sustainable. According to Friends of the Earth, because they contain compounds of various metals, the technology for recycling lithium batteries is currently inadequate and expensive. They often end up in landfill or are incinerated. It argues for tighter recycling regulations and better recycling technology.

As we become more reliant on lithium technology, we need something similar to the conflict minerals regulations – the Dodd Frank Act – which covers the gold, tungsten, tin and tantalum used in electronics.

In February 2021, Amnesty International published a set of principles for businesses and governments for ensuring that lithium is not linked to human rights abuses or environmental damage from extraction to end-of-life. Amnesty International also calls on manufacturers to design batteries for maximum resource efficiency, including innovations to use fewer materials and minerals, and to work towards 100% safely recycled content in batteries. 51 civil society organisations across the world have endorsed the principles.

More details of the metals used in batteries appear in our batteries guide.