Eco friendly cleaning and personal hygiene products

[Mike1951]

As the sink and shower drains straight to the canal, are there any recommended products that will bio degrade and not damage the wildlife and plants in the canal/river?

 

[Alan de Enfield]

8 minutes ago, Mike1951 said:

As the sink and shower drains straight to the canal, are there any recommended products that will bio degrade and not damage the wildlife and plants in the canal/river?

 

 

In my somewhat limited experience, it's a choice of :

1) products that work well, or

2) environmentally friendly 'bio' products.

 

The two never seem to be available in the same product.

[Tony Brooks]

and the products that work well are limited by regulation as to what polluting constituents they can contain, and it is not much. Probably a good idea to avoid perfumed products. There seem to be vast amounts of greenwash marketing around this type of product.

[Bacchus]

20 minutes ago, Mike1951 said:

As the sink and shower drains straight to the canal, are there any recommended products that will bio degrade and not damage the wildlife and plants in the canal/river?

 

 

As @Alan de Enfield says, there does seem to be an element of exclusivity between working really well and being environmentally friendly, but I find the Ecover range of products offer a pretty good compromise, and are widely available 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

10 minutes ago, Bacchus said:

 

As @Alan de Enfield says, there does seem to be an element of exclusivity between working really well and being environmentally friendly, but I find the Ecover range of products offer a pretty good compromise, and are widely available 

 

Rumours that Ecover products are made from sustainably sourced dolphin blubber are entirely false. 😀 🐬

[ditchcrawler]

16 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 

Rumours that Ecover products are made from sustainably sourced dolphin blubber are entirely false. 😀 🐬

Camomile and Clementine Washing Up Liquid
Aqua, Sodium lauryl sulfate, Lauryl glucoside, Glycereth -6 Cocoate, Coco-glucoside, Lactic acid, Sodium chloride, Sodium octyl sulphate, Alcohol denat., Parfum, Limonene, Citric acid, Sodium citrate

[Briss]

Marketing seems to have convinced "us" about how much "stuff" we need to use. E.g. I use about a quarter of the recommended dose of (Ecover) washing liquid and my clothes come out fine. My shaving razors have a blue strip on them to tell me when to replace them.... I use them for a couple of months after that blue strip has gone and they're fine.

 

There are loads of examples of this sort of over consumption and use that can (and should) be addressed. As my old dad never tired of telling me, it was the mustard left on the plate that made Coleman his fortune. If people only took what they needed he'd have gone bust.

 

p.s. You don't need to shower every day. Use the sniff test!

Edited December 7, 2021 by Briss

[BlueStringPudding]

56 minutes ago, Mike1951 said:

As the sink and shower drains straight to the canal, are there any recommended products that will bio degrade and not damage the wildlife and plants in the canal/river?

 

 

For shower gel, shampoo etc, I like House of Mistry products. 

 

https://www.houseofmistry.com/body-care

[Jen-in-Wellies]

6 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Camomile and Clementine Washing Up Liquid
Aqua, Sodium lauryl sulfate, Lauryl glucoside, Glycereth -6 Cocoate, Coco-glucoside, Lactic acid, Sodium chloride, Sodium octyl sulphate, Alcohol denat., Parfum, Limonene, Citric acid, Sodium citrate

No mention of Delphinus in amongst the Latin names. See, no dolphins at all.

[Hudds Lad]

Isn’t the con with Ecover stuff that they use pretty much the same ingredients as the other products, just from a “sustainable” source?

And obviously a complete lack of Flipper, honest.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Hudds Lad
so long and thanks for all the fish

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Isn’t the con with Ecover stuff that they use pretty much the same ingredients as the other products, just from a “sustainable” source?

And obviously a complete lack of Flipper, honest.

 

That Ecover ingredients list is all standard surfectants and soaps with some degreasing agents and scents, similar to any other washing up liquid...

[David Mack]

Ecover is owned by SC Johnson, which owns a host of other mainstream brands.

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/company-profile/ecover-uk-limited

[Slim]

55 minutes ago, Briss said:

Marketing seems to have convinced "us" about how much "stuff" we need to use. E.g. I use about a quarter of the recommended dose of (Ecover) washing liquid and my clothes come out fine. My shaving razors have a blue strip on them to tell me when to replace them.... I use them for a couple of months after that blue strip has gone and they're fine.

 

There are loads of examples of this sort of over consumption and use that can (and should) be addressed. As my old dad never tired of telling me, it was the mustard left on the plate that made Coleman his fortune. If people only took what they needed he'd have gone bust.

 

p.s. You don't need to shower every day. Use the sniff test!

I can't put mustard on my plate without remembering my dad saying  exactly the same. 

[Tonka]

If there is a R in the month's name then it is too cold to shower

[Tracy D'arth]

The whole "ECO" products thing is a marketing ploy and a con IMHO.

The dilution factor on a canal is massive, the quantity of detergents etc is tiny. Land run off is a far  greater potential  pollutant.

[NB Alnwick]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

Ecover is owned by SC Johnson, which owns a host of other mainstream brands.

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/company-profile/ecover-uk-limited

 

You beat me to it! Ecover was once an acceptable product but big business saw an opportunity and stepped in to buy them out. The name is the same but the product is now sold as a result of clever marketing. We recently discovered Surcare products for laundry and washing up. For most other things, good old fashioned soap without perfume is always a good bet and we like the products sold by Peace with the wild.  No connection other than it is where I have purchased my shaving products.

57 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

The whole "ECO" products thing is a marketing ploy and a con IMHO.

The dilution factor on a canal is massive, the quantity of detergents etc is tiny. Land run off is a far  greater potential  pollutant.

 

You been watching those cows again?

[blackrose]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

The whole "ECO" products thing is a marketing ploy and a con IMHO.

The dilution factor on a canal is massive, the quantity of detergents etc is tiny. Land run off is a far  greater potential  pollutant.

 

I'm not so sure. People who chuck their sh*t into the canal sometimes cite the same dilution argument. We used to imagine that the waterways and even the seas could easily absorb all our pollution without causing an environmental problem, but now we know that's not the case at all. There's a saying in pollution management "The solution to pollution is not dilution" and I think that's true for anything going into the canals. Detergents etc aren't going into the waterways instead of land run off, they will be in addition to it, so that's a bit of a false argument. 

 

But I agree that there's a lot of marketing greenwash with some of these so called Eco-products. What's actually in or not in Mistry products referred to above, that reduces their environmental impacts compared to standard products for example?

[Feeby100]

[Alan de Enfield]

13 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Detergents etc aren't going into the waterways instead of land run off, they will be in addition to it, so that's a bit of a false argument. 

 

But - without all the detergent going into the canals just imagine how many 'diesel rainbows' we would see, as it is the detergents are breaking down the diesel spills.

 

Without the detergent in the canal everyone would be having to black their boats annually instead of every 2 or 3 years

[BlueStringPudding]

2 hours ago, blackrose said:

. What's actually in or not in Mistry products referred to above, that reduces their environmental impacts compared to standard products for example?

 

Read the ingredients list. They're written on each product page. Then you'll know. 

[Ianws]

You could check out various products on the ethical superstore website. Ecoleaf are distributed by Suma a Yorkshire firm. Other options are on there, with ingredients and eco credentials. I've never found ecover washing up liquid or other equivalents a problem. They just dont create lots of bubbles you might be expecting. Not sure how great eco oven cleaners might be but orange oil is a great degreaser. 

[Machpoint005]

Beat me to it. Ecoleaf.

 

I don't like shower gel -- I use plain soap. 

Ecoleaf do hand soap but I can't vouch for it.

 

[Mike1951]

1 hour ago, Machpoint005 said:

Beat me to it. Ecoleaf.

 

I don't like shower gel -- I use plain soap. 

Ecoleaf do hand soap but I can't vouch for it.

 

I'm a soap man myself. Shampoo is necessary though. I'll have to check what's in all these conditioners and other concoctions my daughter uses gallons of

[Peanut]

I had an uncle who only used washing soda for washing up and laundry, it works quite well, degreases and gives the unbleached look.

[Tonka]

Could just get a dog to give you a good lick in the morning.