While we all know that vinegar, baking soda, and a few other harmless kitchen products make fine, all natural home cleaning solutions, sometimes a more "aggressive" product can be needed for stubborn jobs. So the first product I chose was the Eco Store's plant based toilet cleaner. Toilets might just be the nastiest place in a home by nature, and cleaning them my least favorite job. Regularly available toilet cleaning products rank up there on chemicals and caustic nature too... so the opportunity to find a natural solution for this bathroom nightmare was intriguing.
For my second product, a "green" body soap sounded exciting. Coconut seemed promising, as it is one of my favorite body cleansing scents. So, Coconut bar soap it was.
The first thing I noticed during delivery, was the rather large packaging that my products came in. A cardboard box measuring 12" x 6" x 6" containing one regulation size plastic bottle of liquid toilet cleaner and a single bar of soap in a printed card-package arrived this afternoon. Neither the outer box, or soap packaging mentioned being made of post-consumer recycled paper products, and that was a disappointment. The HDPE plastic bottle for the toilet cleaner was a bummer too, but I realize that reliable and cost effective liquid packaging sort of requires petroleum based plastics. The box was filled with biodegradable/water soluble cornstarch packing peanuts...so they did get a point there!
A suggestion to the Eco Store: Use post-consumer recycled packaging when possible. Just knowing that the cardboard is maybe on its second life already makes it a little bit more "green."
In examination of both products I found the following things as interesting. The toilet cleaner is made in the USA, is plant based, and has just a few ingredients:
Water, Citric acid, Xanthan gum, Glucosides (from simple glucose), gluconic acid, and Pine oil.
The claims on the bottle: Plant based, earth safe and biodegradable from sustainable resources. No petrochemicals (except that nasty bottle!) phosphates, bleach, nitrates, ammonia, EDTA, chlorine, DEA/TEA, preservatives, or perfumes and dyes.
It smells like pine. Not horrible at all. It is clear, easy to apply, and effective. It polished the toilet bowl as expected, and left no caustic fumes in the bathroom. The toilet was clean, and I was happy.
After cleaning the toilet, the most natural step is washing your hands! That is exactly where I went with my Eco Store Coconut bar soap. It was an unoffensive white bar and smelled VERY slightly of coconut. The lather was not very sudsy but it felt effective in it's cleaning ability. I was slightly sad that the coconut scent was not stronger, and that it did not linger but the soap seemed gentle and clean. It claims safety for sensitive skin too!
The soap is a product of New Zealand and the box claims: No animal fats or tallow, petrochemicals, synthetic dyes, sodium lauryl sulfate, or propylene glycol. It lists the following ingredients: Sodium Palmate, Sodium Cocoate, Water, Fragance, Glycerine, Sodium Chloride, Coconut Strands, and Titanium Dioxide.
In conclusion, I think that www.ecostoreusa.com has a great opportunity here to cater to those of us who want to avoid "nasty" chemicals when cleaning and bathing. The toilet cleaner and bar soap products proved effective, useful and pleasant. Conversely, Their packaging left room for improvement in environmental friendliness and I urge the company to consider better options there.
Thank you www.ecostoreusa.com for this opportunity to try these products. I like them! Check them out friends, you might too! Eco Store Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ecostoreusa or Twitter: @ecostoreusa!
(Disclaimer: I was not monetarily compensated in any way for this product review. I was given these products free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion regarding them. I have no affiliation with the aforementioned company, and provide this review as an honest account of my experience.)
your blog is informative and i have learned so much from it .
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