We love going to Scotland and there are two brands that stand out on any visit to the Scottish Hebrides – Co-Op and Ecover. Both are deemed ‘environmentally-friendly’. For island life, it seems to make sense to use something that supports a connection with nature when such a level of isolation insists upon the use of septic tanks. There are lots of reasons why we can benefit from embracing more environmentally-friendly products elsewhere though.
Many cleaning products contain chemicals that can be harmful to both us and the environment. There are other companies out there that support a more nature-friendly way of making their products though we have chosen to look at Ecover as they are well-known and their products are more readily available in local supermarkets.
On their website Ecover specify different ways in which they aim to reduce the negative impact that they have on people and nature. Amongst these is their intention to stop using any single-use plastic and instead have all their bottles made from recycled plastic. With such focus on the issues around plastic in the world at the moment, Ecover seems to push themselves beyond what is required from them by law and they appear to strive many steps further.
Ecover’s environmental message began in 1979 when they launched the first ever phosphate-free washing powder. It has taken until 2017 for this to be introduced into European Law. You might ask, what are phosphates and why are they harmful?
Phosphates are chemical compounds that are essential to life as contain phosphorous, which is important to animal and plant life as enables them to grow. The problem arises when too much phosphorous is introduced to an environment. One of the more prominent examples of this is in water. Algae is vital for many aquatic creatures to survive but a sudden boom in the growth of algae will reduce the amount of oxygen in water; therefore leaving aquatic life struggling to breathe.
Even after eliminating the use of Phosphates, a lot of household cleaning products still voice the potential for damage to nature on the bottles but many people may still shy away from gentler products with the fear that they don’t finish the job to the same standard.
Therefore we thought we’d find out once and for all, how do Ecover products perform in comparison to the items that sat under the sink before them?
We started with Ecover’s Lemon and Aloe Vera washing-up liquid. It burst into frothy, soft, lovely-smelling bubbles straight away, which we found to be better than some of the cheaper products available in supermarkets. The liquid is not just nature-friendly but hand-friendly too, making washing-up a slightly less traumatic experience for these hard-working hands. When we read further on their website, we realised that it appears this is no accident.
The dishes came out just as clean as our usual brand so we’re convinced by the washing up liquid straight away. The only downside is that we used it rather quickly so for the next purchase went for the 950ml Camomile and Clementine rather than the 450ml bottle we tried first. This has all the same benefits as the smaller bottle but is lasting much longer at a reasonable cost.
Next we look at the washing conditioner. We think that the washing smelled even better than usual and the clothes were plenty soft enough. What more is there to judge washing conditioner by? We’re happy!
Last but not least we tested out Ecover’s toilet cleaner. Whilst we can’t know how well it’s cleaning, it certainly smelled nice though didn’t bubble as much as other toilet cleaners we’ve used. This most probably is to do with the fact that the components of the toilet cleaner are, well exactly that…cleaner. Ecover’s philosophy is to be clean – to have a “Clean Business”, “Clean Plastic”, “Clean Water”, “Clean Sourcing”, “Clean Ingredients”, “Clean Fragrances”, “Clean Design” and “Clean Manufacturing”. If we have to sacrifice a few bubbles in our toilet to be more environmentally-friendly and embrace that philosophy, it seems worth it.
For More Information on Ecover Products
If after reading this blog you feel you’d like to know more about Ecover products, why not visit their website and think about making a change yourself?