Method All Purpose Spray Eco Product Review

After testing Method’s Stainless Steel Cleaner, Flushable Wipes and Soy Candle, Big Green Smile sent us some All Purpose Spray to review. Firstly I’ll get out the way how much I like the bottle shape and tounge-in-cheek writing on the bottle - all products should be like this - but it’s more important to find out if it works well.

I didn’t get the same colour as pictured on the website, I think Method must just update them as mine was pink as pictured below, although I’m sure it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to how it works.

I gave it a stern test - my cooker top which hadn’t been cleaned for a couple of weeks. And I just used a cloth so I would have to work at stubborn stains. But I didn’t have to really. I turned the nozzle to ‘on’ and off I went, a few sprays and a quick wipe and I was done. Well almost. There were a few places which needed a further wipe but what I discovered was that if you sprayed a drop of the Method cleaner on the area, left it for about 30 seconds, it then wiped off easily.

The smell wasn’t quite as nice as other Method products and it did seem a bit ‘chemically’ but I wasn’t worried about breathing it in or touching it with my hands like I am with other cleaners. It’s made with naturally-derived surfactants and is biodegradable.

Method All Purpose Spray costs £3.00 and is available from Big Green Smile.

Method Bathroom Flushable Wipes Eco Product Review

Once again, Big Green Smile has sent us a Method product to test, this time it’s Bathroom Flushable Wipes.

I never thought I’d like these, well maybe I’d like them but they’re disposable so not very green right? Wrong. Okay it’s probably better to use a cloth but these are made from wood from renewable forests and can be flushed or even composted as there’s nothing bad in them.

Basically for giving the bathroom a quick wipe rather than a proper clean, they come into their own when cleaning the toilet or the tiles around there. Smelling strongly of eucalyptus and mint (reminded me a drinking a mojito), they’re fine to use with a bare hand and are pretty wet. Almost too damp as squeezing them releases a bit of foam, but actually are the right side of moist and the resealable flap means they remain that way.

Quick and easy can also mean green. I liked the convenience and ease of these and don’t get told off by the girlfriend for using the cloth meant for the kitchen floor for the toilet - hey, they were right next to each other.

Method Bathroom Flushable Wipes cost £3.50 for 24 and are available from Big Green Smile. Check out our Eco Reviews pages for other Method product reviews.

Preserve Toothbrush Eco Product Review

I have to admit I use a rechargable toothbrush most of the time. I’ve had it for ten years and now feel it’ll be a waste to throw it away and I should use it until it dies naturally - which it’s close to doing, I have to charge it more and more frequently.

However while I’m away, which is often, I always use a manual toothbrush to save taking the charger with me etc. So when Male Organics sent me Preserve’s toothbrush to try out, I took on the challenge with relish. Especially as Joel got to review the Radius toothbrush.

The first thing to point out is that it’s made of plastic with a nylon brush head. The second thing to say is that the plastic is made from recycled yogurt pots and once you’re done with the whole thing you can send it back to Preserve for recycling.

The box it comes in looks like plastic but says it’s made from wood (!) and this has a dual use as a holder for the toothbrush when travelling and is quite useful.

The toothbrush’s handle itself is quite curved which takes a little getting used to but actually I now prefer it than a straight brush. The handle forgoes any of the now usual rubber grips and just has three bars/protrusions near the head that you can grip with your thumb and finger that works well, stopping your hand from slipping.

I have the soft head brush but it comes in different styles (ultra soft and medium) and I would recommend anyone to give it a go when choosing their next brush. It might not be for some, but for simple functionality and environmentally friendliness you can’t get much better.

A Preserve toothbrush is available from Male Organics“>Male Organics for £2.99.

Dr Bronner Tea Tree Castile Soap Eco Product Review

Testing eco-friendly products is always fun, but the best times are when something is useful as well. When Male Organics send us stuff, I can then groom myself nicely all in the name of research.

I’ve mentioned Dr Bronner’s castile soap before, how it’s basically a shower gel and how much I loved the peppermint version, but now I’ve been testing the tea tree version. Essentially it’s the same stuff but different smell. I’ve never liked tea tree oil, creams, facewashes, air fresheners and so on, but think that may be down to a nutty ex-girlfriend who used it a lot. So in the name of product reviewing I ignored my fear and jumped in the shower.

It wasn’t too bad. I mean there’s obviously a tea tree smell to it but once you’re using it you notice it less and get on with the lathering up. Used with one of those shower puff things you can get a lot of coverage with only a tiny drop of the soap.

And if you’re in the bath and are a bit bored, the bottle makes an entertaining, if slightly bizarre, read. But that’s part of the charm. The soap itself contains non of the chemicals you find in shower most gels and is all natural. I’m a big fan… of the peppermint version anyway.

Dr Bronner’s shower soap is available from Male Organics in two sizes - £2.45 for the 118ml and £6.45 for 472ml.

Ecover Toilet Cleaner Eco Product Review

I’ve been looking forward to the day when toilets clean themselves for about 15 years now. As it doesn’t look likely any time soon, I’ll have to do it myself. I suppose they do have those things you clip on the rim but that doesn’t really replace a bit of brushing does it?

Luckily Ecover do a natural clean (with the power of plants! Or something) that aims to keep your toilet sparkling. And it does a pretty good job. Cleaning-wise it er cleans nicely but I do miss the bright colours of big brands and they do seem a bit thicker than Ecover too. After you squirt under the rim it tends to run down the sides into the water a bit too quickly for my liking.

So apart from maybe a little extra scrubbing you’ll need to do, I’d recommend Ecover toilet cleaner. It smells nice and fresh and is better for the environment. I’m not sure this product can be refilled, but the bottle and cap can be recycled.

As usual www.ecover.com has a list of ingredients (including the intriguingly named Linalool):
The list below displays ingredients in descending order, with those present in highest quantities first.
Water
Citric Acid
Lauryl Polyglucose
Sodium Citrate
Xanthan Gum
Perfume
Sodium Benzoate
Linalool
Limonene

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

Skoy Cloth Earth Friendly Product Review

Skoy Cloth is a reusable cleaning cloth made from a blend of cotton and wood-pulp cellulose. 100% biodegradable, the cloth is non-toxic, chlorine free and uses water based colors.

Apparently one cloth can last as long as 15 rolls of paper towels, which in my house means a long time. To clean it you can put it in the dishwasher or the washing machine and it will be fine and dandy. You can even microwave it if you want to kill bacteria (as long as it’s wet first it’ll be OK).

Created by two stay-at-home moms living in Encinitas, California, I met Karen and was bowled over by her enthusiasm for the product. Discovered by her business partner Michelle whilst living in Europe, they’ve worked hard to bring a similar product to the US.

The cloth worked well, it was more sturdy than most paper towels and it’s re-usability makes it very cost effective. It’s very water absorbent, which is obviously a good thing in a cleaning cloth, and was also handy instead of a cleaning sponge.

They cost $4.99 (plus shipping) for a four pack and come in different colors. You can buy them online from Skoy and other online and bricks and mortar retailers.

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.

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