When testing and selecting the toilet brushes, we considered hygiene, effectiveness, depth of clean, additional extras, value and colours available. Once a fringe ethical phenomenon, more and more shops and companies are now offering refills. And it’s not just health food shops, alternative supermarkets and zero waste stores. Refill only brands Toilet cleaners usually contain chlorine bleach to kill off bacteria and microbes. Many mainstream toilet cleaner makers portray the toilet bowl as one of the dirtiest places in the house and we need to use these deadly chemicals to keep ourselves safe.

Ecover - most bottles use 75% PlantPlastic, from sugar cane, and 25% recycled plastic. Toilet cleaner is 50% recycled. 5 litre Bulk sizes and refill stations. Bleach does the job, but what is the job and is it necessary? As we live in the Age of Bacteria immunologist, Gerald N Callahan, sums up: 'Neither humans nor micro-organisms benefit from fully destroying the other. This is not a war, as it has often been described, even though we have an impressive array of weapons - bactericidal cribs and mattresses, toilet cleaners... If it were (a war), we would have lost long ago, overpowered by sheer numbers and evolutionary speed. This is... like a waltz that will last for all of human history. We must hold to our partners carefully and dance well.'" Environmental expert s’ verdict: This is not an environmental issue. 6 What is the best way to wash a cleaning cloth? Bio D – bulk sizes and refill stations. Majority of single bottles and bulk sizes are 100% Recycled plastic, apart from 20 litre bulk refill containers.A recent Which? report (May 2021) stated that large bottles of household cleaning products used 47% less plastic and needed less space to be transported. Environmental experts’ verdict: Rinse after use. Wash every other day. 7 How often should you dust?

Several others ( Bio-D, Fill Refill, Miniml, SESI, Sodasan, and Splosh) scored our best rating for stating that all of their palm ingredients, including derivatives, were certified by the RSPO.You can also look for bulk containers made from recycled plastics such as Bio-D’s 5 litre bottles or other innovative solutions such as Greenscents’ biopolymer bottles made from sugar cane waste. In October 2015, the UK Government banned the testing of ‘finished’ household products on animals and introduced a ‘qualified ban’ on testing the ingredients on animals. But it’ll make little difference to animal welfare. This is because no animals have been used for testing ‘finished’ household products in the UK since 2010. It’s usually the ingredients not the ‘finished’ products that are tested on animals.

Greenscents – bulk sizes, which can be returned to them for reuse, and refill stations. Standard size bottles made from biopolymer, from waste sugar cane But the real ethical issue centres around manufacture. Bleach is from the organochlorine family of chemicals, compounds rarely found in nature and which can take centuries to decompose. Greenpeace has called for a complete end to organochlorine production. Those whose entire product range was certified as cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny were Astonish, ATTITUDE, Bio-D, ecoleaf, Ecozone, Fill Refill, Sodasan and Greenscents. Ecoleaf by Suma – 5l and 20l bulk sizes for refill at home and refill stations. All bottles and bulk containers are 100% recycled plasticEnvironmental expert s’ verdict: Two, each washed once a fortnight. 2 How often should you change your sheets? We have rated all the companies for their toxic chemicals policies. The companies which received a best rating had a policy because they had banned the use of parabens, phthalates and triclosan (see our feature on toxic chemicals for why we have chosen these chemicals) were: Many other companies included in this guide also offered bulk sizes (2 litres to 20 litres) to consumers so they can 'refill at home': ATTITUDE, Bio-D, ecoleaf, Eco-max, Ecover, Greenscents, and Sonett. Although the plastic impact of bulk purchasing is lower than buying individual bottles, only Greenscents containers can be returned for reuse. Splosh – buy a filled plastic bottle then buy through the post concentrated pouches of cleaners. Pouches can be returned to Splosh for reuse or recycling.