4. May 2017| by Angela Kirwan

What are eco-labels?

Going green with your cleaning products is a great step towards a healthier environment not only for you and your family but for the Earth as well. Though changing and choosing new cleaning products that are safer for the area around us can be quite difficult. There are many different brands, labels and stamps that state different enviro-friendly messages. So how do we choose the right one, and how do we know what products are actually better for the environment?


When we discuss the matter of environmentally friendly agents, there are many different factors that make a product eco safe that should be considered. This can often range from chemical usages and content within each product, adhesive and even the way the product itself is manufactured and transported. On top of this, there are also many campaigns and foundations that give products their own separate ‘stamp of approval’ that encourage the environmentally friendliness of certain agents.


This is a brief list of the wide range of healthier labels out on the market today. There are many diverse labels and companies who have created them to help ensure people can distinguish which products are in fact eco friendly and which are not.


Below is a brief description of what each of these eco labels say about the related products and its effect on the environment.


Recycled content and recyclability

Recyclable items demonstrate that the object material is capable of being collected and separated from waste streams and reverted for reuse and conversion. In regards to cleaning products, the sense of recyclability is aimed at the packaging and casing of the agents. The packaging of most cleaning products have the opportunity to be reused within the household in many ways. However, unfortunately for many cleaning products to be recycled it can often be found impossible as many are manufactured in plastic packaging which are non recyclable.



Biodegradable means that an object is able to be broken down and is capable of being decomposed in a natural environment. This means that the physical product or casing is able to be decomposed by bacteria, living organisms and other natural means within our soils. The main point of figure towards biodegradable products is to essentially reduce our overall pollution and landfill. Pollution is a growing issue that is affecting not only our physical environments but our water systems and air ways as well. So, in order to protect the environment that surrounds us, the waste and all things in which we discard into it should be biodegradable.



When purchasing cleaning agents, it is important to consider the toxicity of the product. Many agents contents consist of harsh chemically infused substances that are toxic for our environment and personal health. The effects of a toxin can be evident in different effects of behaviour and neurophysiological. The amount of these effects depends largely on the toxicity of the specific substance and the quantity within it. For any products to obtain an eco label for reduced toxicity, it must be able to back it up with some scientific evidence and data.



Sustainability is often referred to the cohesion of three elements; social development, economic development and environmental protection. So for a product to be sustainable, it must have a balance of all these areas and also care for our environment. Products that are not sustainable cannot sustain themselves and eventually end up damaging the environment around it. This not only contributes to increasing our environmental footprint but also adds to the increasing landfill via the physical product manufacture itself.

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