15 Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products for Smart Homeowners
Updated: Feb. 24, 2023Trying to clean your home in a more eco-friendly, non-toxic way? Here are some must-have green home cleaning products that really work!
Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases.
Reusable Cleaning Suite
The people behind Blueland cleaning products are serious about the environment. Their products are made with plant-based, eco-friendly ingredients, and they’re serious about reducing plastic waste. Cleaning kits contain reusable bottles for cleaning dishes, laundry, bathrooms, glass, hands and pretty much any surface around the house. Their kits work like this: purchase the bottles once. When you run out of a cleaning product, just add one of their cleaning or soap tablets with some warm water and you’re set.
Bathroom Cleaner
reason you should consider safe, green products for cleaning your bathroom, is the room’s poor ventilation, which can cause some cleaning products like bleach or those with ammonia that can make you sick. Three Main Bathroom Cleaner is biodegradable, non-toxic and pet-friendly. It’s also free of chemicals including synthetic fragrances, phthalates and parabens. And every refill pouch uses 80 percent less packaging than traditional bottles. Green cleaning is important to your health and that of the natural world.
Dish Soap
Using plant-powered surfactants, Molly’s Suds erases grease and handles hard water with no problems. No SLS means it’s gentle on your hands too, but it still works into a rich, foamy lather while you wash your dishes. It’s also safe for people with fragrance or chemical sensitivities as well as your septic system. It’s available in lemon burst and lavender scents, each derived from natural plant essences and oils, as well as unscented.
Glass Cleaner
No one likes dirty or streaky glass. Enter Ingredients Matter Lemongrass Window & Glass Cleaner, for a streak-free shine with a fresh yet subtle lemon scent. It’s made from natural ingredients — no detergents, synthetic fragrances, preservatives, petrochemicals or phosphates, which makes it a great cleaning product for people with allergies. Use it with a microfiber cloth, and you’ll swear this product has superpowers!
Toilet Brush
Most toilet brushes are plastic, which eventually ends up in landfills. The LOHO Wonderz Toilet Brush, however, is made from sustainable materials, including a beechwood handle that’s built to last and won’t snap like some plastic handles can. The brush head is made from coconut fibers and shaped to reach under the rim, to help get even the germiest areas of your toilet clean.
Wood Cleaner
The ingredients in some cleaners can remove the finish. so be sure to choose a product specifically formulated for wood. Method Wood For Good Daily Wood Cleaner has a non-toxic plant-based formula that removes grease, grime and dirt from floors, cabinets and more. It won’t leave residue, only a subtle shine that enhances the natural beauty of the wood, along with a wonderful almond scent.
Stainless Steel Cleaner
Shiny stainless steel appliances are particularly susceptible to water spots, streaks and fingerprints, especially if you have kids. Help keep your appliances sparkling with a product specially formulated for stainless steel, such as ECOS Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish. Its powerful-yet-gentle plant-based formulation earned it the EPA Safer Choice Award.
One Amazon reviewer said: “My stainless steel refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave and oven have never looked so good, not even when they were brand new! It does a fantastic job cleaning as well as polishing.”
Mop
Made of microfiber, the E-Cloth Deep Clean Mop removes more than 99 percent of bacteria, pollen, mold and other contaminants from hard flooring with water alone. The microfiber cloths are reusable and sustainable, making this a better choice for the environment than disposable pads.
Another great feature of this product: No bucket required. Just wet a clean cloth in the sink, wring it out and attach to the mop. The texture of microfiber lifts dirt and stains off floors easily, without too much elbow grease.
Powder Cleanser
There’s a reason why Bon Ami Powder Cleanser has been popular for more than 100 years. It’s powerful, even on baked-on food — just add extra elbow grease — yet won’t scratch delicate surfaces such as glass cooktops and plastic. (To be safe, it’s always a good idea to do a test patch first.) It’s made from all-natural ingredients that you can easily pronounce, earning an A-rating from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit that educates consumers about the safety of product formulations among other research and advocacy efforts. And Bon Ami is inexpensive, too.
Floor Cleaner
Aunt Fannie’s Vinegar Wash Concentrate, made with vinegar and plant-based ingredients, makes cleaning dirty floors a breeze. Just mix the concentrate with water and mop. Each scent contains a variety of essential oils; Sweet Mandarin, for instance, is a combination of natural orange, mandarin, grapefruit and juniper berry oil. So your home may smell a little like a fancy salad dressing, but at least you won’t be inhaling toxic fumes. For really stubborn spots, sprinkle on baking soda before you mop.
Here’s what you need to know about how to clean your wood floors, from daily quick-cleans to more in-depth refreshes.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Too many toilet bowl cleaning products do the job but are unsafe for septic systems, pipes and people. Enter Seventh Generation’s Toilet Bowl Cleaner and its plant-based formula, made without chlorine, synthetic fragrances, ammonia or dyes. That translates into no harsh fumes — yet it still gets the toilet thoroughly clean.
Broom
The Libman Precision Angle Broom has a recycled-steel handle and angled bristles derived from 22 recycled PET water bottles. That makes them eco-friendly and versatile enough reach into tight corners and under cabinets to get every little speck of dust and debris.
One Libman reviewer noted this broom is great for pet hair: “It grabs and picks up everything in its path. My seven-year-old loves to sweep up the dog hair from the floor and the broom does a good job.”
Laundry Detergent
Highly concentrated and hypoallergenic, Brooke and Nora Liquid Goat Milk Detergent is made with goat milk soap, essential oils and salts mined from the Green River Valley. Buy it sans fragrance, or choose one of four delightful and long-lasting scents. One reviewer raved about Spring Blossom: “…I am in love! Even if I don’t use its scent booster buddy, my clothes come out smelling springy fresh and it will stay that way for a couple days after! Want to try in every scent!”
Another way to help save money and eliminate harmful ingredients that can hurt the environment and cause skin irritation is by making homemade laundry detergent.
Multipurpose Wipes
Whether you’re on the go, need to dust something off quickly or just prefer the convenience of a wipe, it’s nice to have them on hand. Better Life’s plant-based cleaning wipes have no dyes, petroleum solvents, sulfates or synthetic fragrances.
Laundry Stain Remover
Here’s the thing about stain removers: Some clean successfully while destroying the fabric in the process. Eco-friendly Puracy Stain Remover, made with six plant enzymes, is easy on fabrics yet tough on a variety of stains. Developed by Ph.D. chemists specializing in green formulas, reviewed by doctors and tested by parents and athletes, it’s marketed as “the most powerful laundry stain remover, guaranteed.”