-12 Months- 12 Eco Changes- Making An Eco Swap Of Cleaning Products

Month 4 – April It’s Cleaning Products

Background…..

As when I decided to go Vegan back in 2013, I started with the food, gradually as I did the next shop I swapped over the milk and butter and cheese, we obviously stopped eating or buying any meat but finding substitutes didn’t happen over night.

My husband Peter then joined me a few months later as he felt better not eating meat every day, every meal as it was me shopping & cooking the food we all ate.

Our kids were young at the time 3, 5 & 6 so swapping the younger 2 over wasn’t a big deal as they were at the stage of trying different food out all the time anyway. We also found after eating dairy they would throw up later in the day, so it was easier to just look for the V vegan sign on food than to keep checking for non dairy products for them.

Clayton, being Autistic had (and still has) a self limiting diet of dry brown or beige finger foods only so he wasn’t included in our switch, getting him to just eat was a struggle in its self.

Anyway…..my point is, nothing happens over night, going Vegan we started with food, it then progressed onto products, clothing, shoes, coats, linen, furniture, now we chose items without a second thought & focus on what chemicals are going in our body now.

This progressed onto what was happening on our land and led us to permaculture, principles & design. Permaculture principle No6 is: Produce No Waste. This is the overall aim.

Just making 1 swap starts to make a difference to our planet.

What could you do today?

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What Am I Looking For?

When looking at products I always found that they contained such a load of other harmful chemicals. Watching what food & drink I put into mine and my families body made me really aware of what chemicals we were putting ON our bodies that would still pass through the skin into our bloodstream, that includes anything that is in the air that we can inhale.

I’ve spent the last 5yrs swapping to non toxic brands, but that doesn’t mean that they are eco friendly too. So here I am making more swaps. This month finding cleaning products suitable for our home.

We already stopped using bleach and bleach products in our home and switched to making our own toilet bombs, which have been working out great. Check this out here -No Waste Wednesday- How We Made Easy Toilet Bombs Using 3 Ingredients

DID YOU KNOW…

Most Cleaning Products Are 90% Water?

Why would you pay for 90% water, when there are other ways to use and buy your products? THAT IS A WHOLE LOT OF UNNECESSARY WATER BEING SHIPPED AROUND THE WORLD AND MOSTLY IN SINGLE USE PLASTIC PACKAGING. (Source: Neatclean)

What Is My Criteria?

My criteria for swapping over Cleaning Products are:

1. Vegan & Cruelty Free. Ideally Plant Derived & Biodegradable Ingredients

2. No Aluminium, Alcohol, PEG’s, Parabans or Sulphates.

3 Remove Single Use Plastic Cleaning Bottles – no glass bottles due to the kids

4. I DO NOT want to pay for water, water in the bottles, water being shipped, water being shipped to factories to be used. All of this is a waste of resources.

5. Cost. I do not want to spend any more than I already do on our products which is around £5 a month on bathroom & kitchen cleaners. Glass cleaner every 6mths or so as I don’t use it often

What Did I find?

There are sooooo many to look into when you research this.

I was looking for non plastic bottles as to me even if they are reusable, they still have to be made! so I wanted to avoid plastic all together, the other alternative I found was glass and if I didn’t have teens running around the house I may have opted for this. I ended up exclusively looking at ALUMINIUM bottles, what I found was none of the spray tops were made from anything other than plastic, which is highly frustrating as, if anything is going to break overtime it will be the spray tops.

Here is what I tried

Neat.

Neat Clean

The 30ml refill mixes with 470ml of tap water to make 500ml of cleaner.
Once you buy our starter packs, you will only need to buy refills to make more cleaning products. No more bulky products taking up space and no more single use plastic! Your refillable spray bottle is designed to work with neat. concentrated refills. There are refills that Kills 99.9% of bacteria. 

The Bottles: designed to last and not for trash. It is aluminium, so light weight but durable. It has a silicone base that gives it extra protection where it needs it and feels great when placing on hard surfaces. This base can be removed for cleaning.

Free From:
Dyes and colourings
Parabens 
Phosphates
Ammonia
Chlorine Bleach
Sulphates
Our formulas are Made in Great Britain and are vegan and not test on animals. They perform brilliantly. 

Taken from their website neatclean.com

I selected that Anti-Bac Starter Pack Bundle: Multi-Surface, Glass & Mirror and Bathroom Cleaner with Aluminium Bottles and Plastic-Free Refills and got the 25% off this set with a friend referral which made it really affordable

How Did It Fit My Criteria?

1. Vegan & Cruelty Free. Ideally Plant Derived & Biodegradable Ingredients

This is my No1 priority before even looking at anything else. Ideally I would prefer to support fully Vegan & Cruelty Free businesses. No logos or accreditation yet which I usually go for though.

Neat. : Our formulas are Made in Great Britain and are vegan and not test on animals. They perform brilliantly. Made with Plant Derived & Biodegradable Ingredients

– YES – This works for me!

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2. No Aluminium, Alcohol, PEG’s, Parabans or Sulphates.

After so many years of reading labels, endless hours looking up chemical names, I am not about to give this up just because it is eco friendly. I need to have all my criteria met to make yet another swap

Neat. : Free From:

• Dyes and colourings
• Parabens 
• Phosphates
• Ammonia
• Chlorine Bleach
• Sulphates

– YES – This works for me!

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3 Remove Single Use Plastic Cleaning Bottles – no glass bottles due to the kids

In this case these bottles are aluminium so sustainable. Plastic spray lid, which is annoying, but I wasn’t able to find any others with anything different in the spray version. Boxes are cardboard & refills in mini glass bottles.

Neat. : Materials

SPRAY BOTTLE: Bottle- Aluminium / Spray nozzle- Plastic / Base- Silicone

REFILLS: Bottle- Glass/ Lid- Aluminium / Box- Paper Card

SPRAY BOTTLE CARE:

Your refillable spray bottle is designed to work with neat. concentrated refills.

It is designed to last and not for trash. It is aluminium, so light weight but durable. It has a silicone base that gives it extra protection where it needs it and feels great when placing on hard surfaces. This base can be removed for cleaning.

– YES – This works for me!

4. I DO NOT want to pay for water, water in the bottles, water being shipped, water being shipped to factories to be used. All of this is a waste of resources.

No water shipped in bottles, use your own tap water and add the concentrated refills into the water. Very clear instructions on the packaging

Neat. : Instructions for use: Dilute 30ml concentrate to 500ml.

– YES – This works for me!

4. 5. Cost. I do not want to spend any more than I already do on our products which is around £5 a month on bathroom & kitchen cleaners. Glass cleaner every 6mths or so as I don’t use it often

I picked the bundle of 3 for £27, £20.50 with the 25% discount with free shipping over £20

Enjoy my 25% off friend referral discount off on the site.

You can get them separately for £9 for the bottle & a refill, or grab a trial for just a fiver! Refills are £2.50 on their website but Sainsburys & Tescos I’ve seen them on offer often. So grab those deals when you can & stock up for the year

I’m in my 10th week of using this set & really loving it. Only topped up my anti bac multi surface cleaner once. I’ve actually been using my glass & mirror spray on the shower doors instead of my usual bathroom cleaner so have only used half of each product. The smell os amazing after I’ve cleaned too!

So initial outlay has been more (4mths of my budgeted money) but in the nearly 3mths (would have spent £15) I have only purchased 1 refill at £2.50 so over the year it will start to even out & be within budget

– YES – This works for me!

Top 5 Reasons To Try This Swap

1. The whole reason is to stop extra waste coming out of the household. This produces ZERO PLASTIC BOTTLE waste each month!!

2. Aluminium bottle is reusable & cardboard packaging & glass bottles are recyclable

3. Better on the environment, as water is not being shipped around the world

4. Can get them from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and other retailers starting to stock them so can just pick up easily instore in your normal shopping

5. Price is that of a normal cleaning item so many times swapping to eco brands means it costs more, grab those deals & stock up if you can.

As a household of 5 we each get through 1 bottle of kitchen/multi surface anti bac cleaner a month, 1 bottle of bathroom cleaner every 2 months and 1 bottle of glass cleaner every 6mth that would be 20 plastic bottles eliminated per year that we will be reducing from our household.

I had no idea that we was even using so much until I started looking into it and was shocked I was contributing so much plastic per year in just cleaning products!

Enjoy my 25% off friend referral discount off on the site.

🌳Permaculture Principle No6 – Produce No Waste

🌱Vegan Living- To Do No Harm

👣🌎Small steps is better than none at all! What small change could you make this year?

Could you look into your cleaning products too?

What changes could you make to reduce your plastic waste coming out from your household?