Earth Friendly Dishmate Washing Up Liquid Eco Product Review

Nigel’s Eco Store offered me an alternative to Ecover when it came to environmentally-friendly washing up - Nigel’s Eco Store Earth Friendly Dishmate Washing Up Liquid.

For reasons only known to our landlord, our dishwasher is incredibly difficult to open so it sits there doing nothing looking smug as I scrub the dishes. But I actually don’t mind washing up and have been using Ecover for years so am used to not having many bubbles, and this Dishmate follows suit. I’ve been using the natural grapefruit ‘flavour’ (made from essential oils) but couldn’t smell it really apart from when sticking the bottle up my nose, which I don’t recommend by the way. But smell isn’t something needed when cleaning dishes.

It’s said only 1.5ml of the ‘ultra concentrated’ liquid is needed (500 bowls per bottle!) for a bowl of washing up but unless you measure it out a small squirt is cool enough. It’s a bit more like traditional washing up liquid in that it’s quiet thick and it’s in a similar bottle. And it’s also tricky to squeeze out with one of those pull out tops. The reason I haven’t taken a picture of my own bottle is that I dropped it attempting a big squeeze. To be fair it survived the fall, albeit with a bash on the shoulder.

Earth Friendly Dishmate has a raft of environmental claims, including: neutral PH value, contain no petrochemicals, ammonia, caustic soda, chlorine, phosphates or formaldehyde, are vegan and GM free, formaldehyde free, safe to use with a septic tank and the bottles can be recycled. Presumably ‘where facilities exist’.

But how does it clean? And the answer is perfectly well. It doesn’t offer any fantastic results that amazed me, it did just the job it was asked and did it well. I’ve been using it a while now and it seems to be lasting a long time so am really happy with it. If they could just sort out the opening thingy so I don’t have to squeeze it so much, I’ll be pleased as punch.

A 1.5 litre bottle costs £3.40 from Nigel’s Eco Store and is available in grapefruit, pear and almond. The ingredients are: water, naturally derived coconut oil surfactants (not sodium laurel sulphate), salt and essential oil.

Ecover Floor Soap Eco Product Review

I’d never been one for floor soap before, but I recently rented a flat that hadn’t a single carpet in the place. So, being too lazy to make my own cleaner, I tried Ecover’s floor soap.

You only need to add a capful or two to a whole bucket full of water so a little goes a long way. Although it says it’s not suitable for laminate flooring, I gave it a go over everything – laminate, tiles, varnished wood etc and it seems fine.

Now Ecover products always say what they’re made from (see below for full list of ingredients), but non of the other products I’ve used have quite the lemon smell that this one does. In its raw form it’s overpowering and even when diluted and I’ve cleaned the whole floor of my flat it’s best to go out for a while. Not that it’s a bad smell, just a bit strong and it does say it’s got “fresh perfume from plant based ingredients”.

Leaving it dry, I returned later to find a nice clean home. It did take some harder mopping to get some marks out, but general grime and mud was no problem. Having not used another type of floor cleaner before it’s difficult to compare but I had no problems with it, the smell was reduced after I’d finished so it was quite a pleasant and “clean” smell.

It’s fully biodegradable and not tested on animals. The plastic bottle can be recycled (I’d be happier if it had already been recycled) and like other Ecover products it can be refilled where facilities exist.

The Ecover website gives a complete ingredients list:

The list below displays ingredients in descending order, with those present in highest quantities first.
Linseed oil
Perfume
Limonene
Nitromethylidynetrimethanol
2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol
Citral
Geraniol

It’s now stocked in most supermarkets or you can buy it easily online.

Ecover Non Biological Integrated Washing Powder Eco Product Review

Ecover Non Biological Integrated Washing Powder. Washing powder is washing powder right? Well no it’s not. I’ve reviewed Simply Sensitive non bio before and loved it and also soapnuts as well as using many unenvironmentally friendly products in the past. And found the all to be slightly different. Nowadays I don’t buy whatever’s on offer and go for an eco choice.

Ecover non bio comes in a 97% recycled cardboard box and a little cardboard scoop to measure out your powder. Nice idea, but not sure you need one in every box. The main selling point, apart from the natural ingredients and natural fragrance, is the fact it has no optical brighteners.

Optical brighteners are in most washing powders and liquids. They are chemicals which reflect light, making clothes look brighter than they really are. It’s said that optical brighteners make an irreversible chemical bond with the skin and exposure is more or less permanent as we are always in contact with some kind of material.

They also claim to use some pioneering ingredients, which is more easily explained by them than me:

Almost all cleaning products are based on surfactants. They work by lowering the surface tension of water to allow dirt to be removed more easily. Conventional cleaning products tend to be based on petrochemical surfactants which are derived from finite oil supplies and are often poorly degradable and toxic to aquatic life. At Ecover we have always favoured plant-based surfactants, which are renewable, have minimal aquatic toxicity and also biodegrade quickly and completely.

Our new laundry formulations contain a pioneering new surfactant that has an even lower aquatic toxicity to the surfactant we were using previously. The surfactant is based on rapeseed oil (non GMO) that is grown in continental Europe and as a result means that we have been able to reduce the distance ingredients are transported.

So there we go. A complete ingredients list is at the end of the article, but what you want to know is whether it works or not. And it does. I don’t often get incredibly dirty but am sometimes muddy, sometimes careless with a curry or tomato ketchup so can test whether those stains come out and mostly they do. I found it effective at doing the wash I want to do – whether it be a colour, white or delicate one. Coupled with the Ecover Fabric Softener it proved up to the challenges I set it.

Look at www.ecover.com for more details. It also has a list of stockists but Ecover products can be found in most supermarkets.

Complete ingredients list:
Zeolite
Sodium Disilicate
Sodium Carbonate Peroxide
Sodium C12-18 Alkylsulfate
Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium Sulfate
Ethoxylated Rapeseed Methyl Esters
Sodium Citrate
Tetra Acetyl Ethylene Diamine (TAED)
Sodium Cocoate
Sodium Poly Asparaginate
Magnesium Sulfate
Cellulose Gum
Parfum
Limonene
Linalool

Shaklee H2 Natural Cleaning Products Review

“We believe in a kitchen that supports the 3-second rule”. Most of us know that household cleaners contain toxic chemicals, and our review of Eco-Me’s products prove that you can create good cleaners with household ingredients. But what if you just want to create natural cleaning products from a concentrate? We all know that bathroom cleaner, kitchen cleaner, window/mirror cleaner, oven cleaner etc is all the same stuff, just in different concentrations, so why can’t we create this ourselves?

Shaklee Basic H² is an organic cleaning concentrate, that allows you to make 48 gallons of cleaning liquid from one 16oz bottle. Some example mixes are:
- Windows and Mirrors requires 16oz of water and 1-2 drops of the magic concentrate (2oz of concentrate can make the equivalent of 728 bottles of Windex).
- Degreaser: 1 and a half teapsoons with 16 oz of water.
- All-Purpose Cleaner: 1 and a quarter teaspsoon with 16oz of water.

However you can also mix it up for pots and pans, floors, washing woolens and nylons and so on. Bottles are available to buy or you can use any spare spray bottles you have (label them clearly though, we don’t want little Timmy drinking it do we?).

The bottles come with a ounce measurement guide on the side, but strangely only up to 12oz, so the last 4oz is a nice bit of guesswork. They worked really well, the mirror cleaner mix was particularly effective, leaving no smears, no fragrance and it was nice and clean.

Shaklee was founded in 1956 and is the first company to be Climate Neutral^TM, that is apparently having zero impact on the environment. They recommend looking at this website to educate yourself on what products you’re bringing into your home, essentially you want to avoid ingredients such as sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, butyl cellosolve, sodium hypochlorite (bleach), ammonia, sulfamic acid and others.

I have one problem with the Shaklee Basic H² concentrate - what’s in it? I’m told it it non-toxic, with no toxic fumes, no fragrance, pH balanced and with no bleach, but what is actually in it? I suppose this might be a corporate secret, but there we go. I also like companies to “walk the talk” (or a similar banal phrase) so printing their press release and information sheets on virgin white paper doesn’t impress me, but this is a minor quibble as they have plenty of other great green initiatives, awards and testimonials in environmental leadership and excellence.

A 16oz bottle of concentrate (that will last a long time) is available for a bargain price of around $12, or even cheaper if you’re a member. The extra bottles I also tested are around $8 (again cheaper if you’re a member). They also have a Get Clean^TM Starter Kit which looks expensive but when you realise how much you get and how long it will last it’s actually a great deal.

Go here for more eco product reviews.

Eco-Me Home Cleaning Kit Eco Product Review

Eco-Me is a company that provides 100% natural eco kits. I call them “starter kits” as they’re an easy way to get started using more environmentally products. In fact, you mix these yourself so you know exactly what has gone into them.

They currently have five kits, Home, Body, Baby, Dog and Cat kits. Not owning a dog or cat (or baby for that matter), it was the Home kit that I was sent for review.

Containing two empty reusable plastic bottles, a reusable tub, a microfiber cleaning cloth, natural fiber scrub brush and a small bottle of Home Blend essential oil, the large box bag it comes in was pleasantly light. The two bottles are for “All Purpose Spray Cleaner” and “Wood Polish Spray Cleaner” with the tub being for “Home Scrub Cleaner”. Each one has really simple instructions on the side and a measurement guide. For example, pour white vinegar up to this mark on the label, water up to this mark, and then 1 unit of essential oil.

The essential oil is there to cover the smell of the other household ingredients. It’s a mix of Tea Tree, Lavender, Rosemary and Lemongrass and only a few drops are usually needed. Creating the cleaning products was so easy it was almost untrue. Surely these can’t be as good as all those weird chemicals?! Creating the scrub cleaner was actually fun, the initial pour of baking soda into the vinegar and water mix, and resultant foaming expansion reminded me of several school chemistry experiments that went awry. This was fine though :). The wood cleaner includes the addition of olive oil, which makes for a nice addition to the experiments.

So, how well did they work?

Well the all purpose cleaner works perfectly fine, though the vinegar smell isn’t the best in the world. I am the first to say that “clean” has no smell (certainly not pine), but vinegar is not my first choice of smell for the bathroom. This isn’t malt vinegar, else I would have been delighted my bathroom smelt like fish and chips (pass the ketchup), no this is white vinegar. Another half unit of the essential oils did the trick and it was now nice and naturally scented. Cleaning wise, the vinegar cleans, deodorizes and kills bacteria, so no need for anything else except the water to dilute it and the oil to scent it. In the scrub, the baking soda did all I needed it to, i.e. clean, so again it seems a great alternative.

By using natural, chemical-free and non-toxic ingredients I certainly felt better about the cleaning. As mentioned Eco-Me provides plenty of kits and ranging from $26 to $36 they’re not expensive. Refill kits are cheap (for the oil, cloths etc) so one kit will last you a long time. Coupled with the fact they can be made up with what’s in your kitchen cupboard, it will be a long time before you feel the need to buy any cleaning products at the grocery store. Their website also has some great eco tips, so take a look.

Go here for more eco product reviews.

Ecover Washing Up Liquid with Lemon and Aloe Vera Eco Product Review

As you can probably tell, I’m a fan of Ecover, which initially seems mainly down to lack of other options. But, for the washing up liquid at least, I’m a fan of it because it’s really good.

From an environmental standpoint, the product stands up well. It’s completely biodegradable, has a minimal impact of aquatic life (whatever that means, the best I can say is that it’s better than other products) and is suitable for septic tanks.

The one worrying aspect is the bottle. While the bottle itself is made of polyethylene and the cap of polypropylene, meaning they’re 100% recycable, they are only if the facility exists near you. It would be better if an alternative could be found but one good thing about Ecover is that you can buy refills so you only need to buy it once. Although the refill bottle is again made of the same stuff, it is huge and you can actually get those refilled from a ‘filling station’ so you only need one of them too.

So its environmental credentials are pretty good, but how does it do the dishes? Very well in fact. I initially thought I’d need to use a lot more of it to create more bubbles but there is a decent amount, and even without it seems to clean just a well. Of course the test always comes on grease, and again it performs really well. I found no problems with it and even ground on food came off fine after a little soaking.

To be honest, I can’t say it was better than well known brands, but it’s just as good.

Thanks to the Ecover website there’s a complete ingredients list too:

The list below displays ingredients in descending order, with those present in highest quantities first.
Water
Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate
Alkyl Poly Glycoside C10-16
Sodium Chloride
Citric Acid
Perfume
Limonene
Protein Hydrolysate
Aloe Barbadensis Extract
Citral
2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol

It’s now stocked in most supermarkets or you can buy it easily online, such as from Drugstore.com.

Greenwoods Soft and Safe Product Review

Greenwoods Soft and Safe is a versatile cleaning product that is not only affordable but environmentally friendly as well. The list of ways you can use Soft and Safe is extensive, from fabric softening to the cleaning of greasy kitchen surfaces to being an additive in dish washing and even cleaning your car! The actual product is described as ‘washing soda crystals’ that are composed of sodium carbonate and water. The crystals can be dissolved in both cold and hot water which adds to its impressive versatility.

The green credentials of Soft and Safe look to be good. It’s 100% biodegradable, the container is recyclable and it is sold in a large 1kg quantity, considering that the weight of the crystals are minimal. It’s also a locally (Palmerston, Otago, New Zealand) produced product which makes it a fantastic buy for Kiwi’s, reducing freighting (and carbon emissions) and helping to support the local economy.

Soft and Safe performed well in all our testing. Obviously the crystals dissolve better in hot water than in cold, and both did require a little stirring. After a few seconds the crystals had completely disappeared in the hot water while a few remained in the cold water.

The cleaning power of Soft and Safe is fantastic. I tried it out in bathroom cleaning and included it in a load of dishes and found that it performed well in both of these areas. Of course with such a large list of potential uses I couldn’t try out everything, in fact, Greenwoods even offers to provide you with more suggestions for uses of their products.

The quantities required are consistent for their uses and comparable to that of other products, such as using a handful of Soft and Safe in your laundry load, this being roughly similar to the laundry powder cup.

Greenwoods Soft and Safe is available in most New Zealand Supermarkets and is very affordable. We always keep a bottle in the household and personally think it’s a fantastic product.

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