How do i know if a cleaning product i’m purchasing really is “green”?

Read the ingredients, and if anything sounds fishy to you, and lots of the ingredients dont’ say “natural” or organic with them, then it probably isn’t “green”. Trust your instinct.
Also, their will be little certifications on the products, saying thats its all natural, or all organic.
http://www.greenseal.org/ —This is an example of a seal that marks a green product, Look here for products that meet their standards.

Take a look at this website for more information and products: http://www.greenhome.com/info/news/173.s…
And it quotes; “Green Seal, Forest Stewardship Council, and Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) are three popular organizations that provide such stamps of approval.”

Some green products that I love and know of are, Method, Greenworks (by Clorox), and Seventh Generation.

——–

You have to do your research. Anyone can claim to be green with no repercussions. And cleaning products’ recipes are proprietary, meaning they don’t have to list their ingredients!
Here’s the best two sites to guide you:
1.) Consumer Reports’ Greener Choices Eco-Labels Center at www.greenerchoices.org/home.cfm.
If they bottle you are holding has a claim (like “organic” or “green list”) you can pop it in to find out what it means (if anything) and whether a product can claim it without someone checking to make sure it’s true. You can also just browse information about household cleaner labels to guide your supermarket search.
Consumer Reports doesn’t use advertising, so you don’t have to worry about them being swayed to push certain products.
2.) Go to householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov for more information on specific products, their ingredients and the possible repercussions (such as whether it contains carcinogens.) This is a government Web site, so sometiems it errs on the side of “if it’s not proven, it’s not a threat.”

In the end, educate yourself and look for a product that actually lists all of its ingredients. Some mainstream manufacturers are greenwashing, presenting products as green to sell more. Other companies, like Seventh Generation, Ecos, Dr. Bronners and Begley’s Best, have been aiming at green before it was trendy. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be checking their labels, too, but it’s a good place to start.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Consumer Electronics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.