Is It Cheaper To Clean Green? The Real Cost Breakdown
Cleaning Green I: All-Purpose Sprays
Over the last ten years, the variety of sustainable products available to purchase from both smaller companies and big box stores alike has seen an incredible increase. From shampoo bars to aluminum solo cups, there are a lot more readily available ways to reduce your waste these days.
But one of the biggest categories of low-waste, low-tox, eco-whatever labeled products I have noticed is cleaning supplies. There are many different cleaning products and methods out there, but due to greenwashing (intentional packaging/branding misinformation spread through buzzwords and unsupported claims), it can be difficult to figure out which ones are actually a sustainable option – or an affordable one.
So to develop an accurate assessment of how affordable and sustainable these “green” products are, I will be comparing the costs & several sustainability factors of popular eco-brands, traditional brands (including off-brands), and DIY alternatives.
All-Purpose Cleaners
Option #1: Blueland
Pricing:
$56.00/$39.00 (sale) Starter Kit
3 pack cleaning refills for $6.00, 6 for $12.00, 12 pack for $19.00
5 pack hand soap refills for $10.00, 10 for $20.00, 30 for $48.00
Cost Breakdown:
$2.00 per bottle of 24 oz all-purpose cleaner, or about $0.08 per oz
Ethical Commitments (Source)
Blueland does not test on animals
Leaping Bunny (cruelty free) certified
“Our products have helped to eliminate over 1 billion single-use plastic bottles from landfills and oceans since 2019”
“In addition to our product level certifications, we’re proud to be Climate Neutral Certified and a Certified B Corp! “
“We’re proud to support organizations outside of our community like DigDeep, ACLU, Lonely Whale, NRDC and more!”
Materials (Source)
“We accept ingredients derived from palm oil when the suppliers are able to produce documentation or evidence that the palm oil is RSPO certified but if they cannot, we will change to suppliers who can.”
Palm oil has been a hot topic in environmental issues for the last several years because it leads to the destruction of forests in southeast Asia, threatening endangered species such as the orangutan, elephant, and tiger. However, the legitimacy of RSPO certification seems to be up in the air. This article is framed around the results of this 2020 study which concluded that RSPO certified palm oil plantations do not actually have any benefit for reducing deforestation.
“While most fragrance facilities do not disclose their specific ingredients list for proprietary reasons, Cradle to Cradle evaluated our fragrances and their manufacturers, and our formulation received the Platinum Material Health Certificate. Additionally, they are safe synthetic fragrances and by going synthetic, we’re able to exclude Prop 65 banned ingredients that are sometimes found in natural fragrances... You can read more about Prop 65 here.”
I find the information regarding “safe” fragrances to be pretty vague and uncompelling. In general, “fragrance” is a highly unregulated ingredient term in the U.S., so I personally like to avoid it when I’m able to.
“Currently, our fragrance-free products include our Glass + Mirror cleaner, Powder Dish Soap, Dishwasher Tablets, and Laundry Tablets. However, our Multi-Surface cleaner, Bathroom cleaner, and Hand Soap do contain fragrance.”
“We use SLS that is derived from renewable carbon plant-derived materials.”
SLS refers to sodium lauryl sulfate, which is a surfactant used to create a foaming consistency in products like shampoo, soap, and cleaning products, to name a few. There have been many claims that SLS ingredients are toxic, but there has not been conclusive evidence that it is inherently carcinogenic or otherwise toxic. It can be a skin irritant for some people, but that’s not as relevant here.
Packaging (Source)
Many of Blueland products ship lighter (such as these refill tabs) because they do not contain the water weight that other cleaners would. Cargo vehicles create fewer emissions when their load weighs less; they don’t have to work as hard. Though, Blueland does sell glass hand soap bottles as well, which is one of the heaviest commonly used materials.
Blueland’s spray bottles are made of Tritan, a type of BPA-free plastic. Though I have seen several articles touting Tritan as “the safest plastic”, I have yet to find a reputable source that supports that assumption in my (admittedly brief) research on the substance. What I will say is that just because a product contains BPA-free plastic doesn’t mean it’s not able to leech disruptive substances. Though, as this is a container for cleaning spray, I have fewer qualms about the material choice than say, a water bottle made of Tritan.
All packaging & boxes are curbside recyclable
All tablet wrappers & powder pouches are home compostable
Damaged bottles can be sent back to Blueland for recycling.
Option #2 Mrs. Meyer’s Multi-Surface Everyday Cleaner & Comparable Off-Brands
Pricing:
Target: $4.49 for 16 oz of Mrs. Meyer’s; $2.29 for 32 oz of Smartly
Walmart: $4.88 for 16 oz of Mrs. Meyer’s; $2.24 for 32 oz of Great Value
Cost Breakdown:
Target’s Mrs. Meyers is $0.28 per oz; Smartly, is $0.07 per oz.
Walmart’s Mrs. Meyers is about $0.31 per oz; Great Value is $0.07 per oz.
Ethical Commitments
Mrs. Meyer’s does not test on animals or use animal-derived ingredients (Leaping Bunny certified)
“To celebrate the return of our Compassion Flower Hand Soap, we’re partnering with KidsGardening to help launch their new Kids Garden Community, providing $100K towards garden-based educational resources for communities across the country with a goal of reaching 500k more kids by 2025.” (Source)
It’s not exactly related to the ethics of Mrs. Meyer’s production, but I think KidsGardening seems to have some good resources for teaching kids about interacting with their environment.
Materials
“We make intelligent, responsible raw material choices, and whenever possible, we obtain materials from renewable plant resources such as coconut, corn, soy and olive.” (Source)
This is some pretty typically vague, nice-sounding language that companies use in advertising for “green” products. It doesn’t actually give us much information about the product, yet aims to equate buying Mrs. Meyer’s products with assuming moral responsibility.
Mrs. Meyer’s provides a full list of their ingredients here, which I found to be uncharacteristically helpful. A quick glance can tell you that their simplistic branding touting plant-derived ingredients does not tell you the whole story.
“All suppliers of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day ingredients derived from palm oil are members of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).” (Source)
We’ve discussed above that the validity of RSPO certification is definitely debatable, so I am not confident this means much.
Packaging
Mrs. Meyer’s website does not provide specific information beyond saying that their packaging is recyclable. All of their products that I have seen online or in stores are packaged in plastic.
Option #3 DIY Citrus Vinegar Spray
I personally use this method because it’s easy, fragrance-free, and costs almost nothing. I use this spray with a microfiber towel or swedish dish cloth to clean my kitchen counters, sinks, stovetop, bathroom surfaces, and much more. I haven’t had any issues using this spray on finished wood (I always dry it immediately), but I would advise caution when cleaning unfinished wood or granite, antique furniture, etc. Patch testing is always an option if you’re not sure.
To make it, all you need to do is combine citrus peels and white vinegar in a jar and place somewhere out of the sunlight, like a pantry, for about 2 weeks. This will infuse the vinegar so that it no longer smells like, well, vinegar, and makes it slightly more viscous from the citrus oils. Any citrus peels or blend of multiple work; you can even add herbs like rosemary or thyme to your infusions for a pleasant scent. Mix your infused vinegar 50/50 with water in a spray bottle and you’re done!
Pricing:
Walmart: $1.92 for one gallon of white vinegar, $3.00 for two gallons
Target: $2.29 for one gallon of white vinegar, $3.79 for two gallons
Cost Breakdown:
In this instance, white vinegar is really the only thing you’re paying for. I am going to consider citrus peels to be free as I am assuming you’re not buying extra citrus just for the peels most people would discard anyways.
Walmart is about $0.03 per oz (1 gallon) or $0.02 per oz (2 gallons)
Target is about $0.04 per oz (1 gallon) or $0.03 per oz (2 gallons)
And remember, making a bottle of vinegar solution is 50% water, so in essence, it costs even less than those numbers per ounce to make.
Potential Waste:
These gallons of vinegar usually come in a recyclable plastic jug, which means that this isn’t a zero-waste solution, but is definitely a low-waste one.
You could make eight 16 oz bottles of infused vinegar from one gallon (128 oz) of white vinegar. When diluted with water, that would make 16 whole 16 oz bottles of cleaner!
Conclusions
The biggest conclusion I have drawn from compiling this blog is that you really do need to do your research in order to find genuine answers about sustainability. Though the growth of environmentalism has fostered positive changes in what’s available to consumers, it’s also encouraged corporations to up the deceptive greenwashing tactics in their advertisements, making it more difficult for consumers to truly know if they’re buying something sustainable or not.
Luckily for you, dear reader, I am happy to do some of that research for you!
From the above numbers, I can confidently say that DIYing is the cheapest way to go. It’s also easy to find vinegar at any grocery store and is much less wasteful than buying individual plastic bottles of cleaner.
Blueland refills also seem like a fairly affordable alternative if you aren’t interested in making cleaners, but I’d say you should skip buying the fancy bottle package and just reuse the cleaning spray bottles you already have at home.
What other cleaning products would you like to see the breakdown for? Comment below!
Grace Kennedy
For clarity, none of the brands featured in this blog were sponsored.
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