Ecover Multi Surface Spray Cleaner Eco Product Review

Ecover have launched a new range of cleaners. In fact, they seem to make a cleaning product for every occasion these days – need your kettle descaling? Ecover can do it. Need a stain remover? Ecover has one. Anyway they have developed ‘Eco-Surfactants’ to go in the range of cleaners.

To give you a bit of marketing-speak background about this, I’ll quote from Ecover’s press release:

“Surfactants, the active ingredient in the majority of household cleaners, from washing up liquid to stain removers, are produced largely from petrochemical substances using high temperature and pressure processes. These petrochemicals do not biodegrade completely and leave behind metabolites. Ecover has always replaced these petrochemical ingredients with plant-based alternatives, but until now have had to utilise the same ingredient manufacturing processes.

“Now all this can change. Ecover’s scientists have invented an innovative new process using a special ‘bioreactor’, a machine which provides the perfect breeding ground for yeast cells. This in turn enables them to harness yeast’s unique ability to combine water-soluble sugars and non water-soluble oils to produce what Ecover has termed an ‘Eco-Surfactant’. This is the first time that a surfactant has been produced using an entirely biochemical, low energy process on this kind of scale, and testing has proved that it provides supreme cleaning as powerful as the petrochemical market leaders as well as complete biodegradability and low toxicity.

“Ecover’s unique Eco-Surfactant is produced from a ‘sophorolipid’. Sophorolipids are completely natural compounds created through the action of micro-organisms such as yeast, and they have a number of unique and beneficial characteristics. Not only do sophorolipids work best at neutral pH levels which are kinder to the skin, they are also kinder to the environment.”

And it goes on and on. But for the reviews we’re more interested in how do they work. And when Ecover sent me the Multi Surface Spray Cleaner (the one with the green top), they sent me a mainstream, ‘traditional’ brand, Flash One for All, to compare it against. So it was cleaning time for me.

The Flash works as you would expect a long-established product to work – perfectly well. It has a nice smell of lemons, not as fake as I would have thought and very similar to Ecover products which have a lemon scent. This version of Ecover’s spray cleaner doesn’t have the lemon scent and has a very neutral odour.

The company claim this version is twice as powerful as its previous spray cleaner and although I didn’t really notice that (not sure it’s possible to test in a domestic setting), it worked very well and just as well as the Flash. To be honest on the surfaces I was cleaning there was no difference at all. I can’t claim either was better or was worse.

Which is sort of the point. It would be very hard for a natural cleaner, something which you don’t need to wear gloves for or worry about food around, to be better than one with a lot of chemicals in. So I’m very impressed with it.

Ecover Multi Surface Spray Cleaner costs around £2.84 in supermarkets and is available online from places like Nigel’s Eco Store.

How To Look Great During The Festival Season

Another post from Big Green Smile. This one’s written by Tanja.

Music lovers across the land are in heaven now that festival season is underway. Glastonbury was as successful as ever, while punters are now gearing up for more big events such as T in the Park.

But one of the main problems faced by women is how on earth can they maintain their natural beauty when they are sleeping in a tent?

Luckily, the Sun [newspaper] has issued a few handy tips and recommendations to those who don’t know what natural skin care products to take with them.

Cleansing wipes were flagged up as one essential item to take, as being outdoors at a music festival can make skin very grimy and vulnerable to blocked pores and blackheads.

The Sun said wipes can be particularly useful because festival shower and toilet facilities “can often leave a lot to be desired”.

Women were also advised to remember to put sun block in their rucksacks, as UV rays can still damage a person’s skin even when the sun is not beating down.

You can read more blog entries at Big Green Smile.

Rose Organic Pillar Candle Eco Product Review

The Scented Candle Shop has sent us candle lovers at Life Goggles lots of candles to review and some were the same candle just a different scent. And this organic pillar candle is just the rose version of the Sea Breeze candle I reviewed a while back.

So it’s going to be a short review, you can refer to the other review if you like, but this is exactly the same but er pink. Okay, not exactly the same as also the smell isn’t as strong as the Sea Breeze one but it’s just as pleasant.

Made from 100% organic vegan plant wax and natural oils, it’s harder to get a better candle for the environment. It still crystallizes rather than melts but burns nice and evenly. this one left a lattice shell as it burned down too which was a nice effect.

The Rose Organic Pillar Candle costs £1.79 and can be found here.

Eco Swimsuits

I’m always happy for an excuse to get women in swimsuits into Life Goggles. Although this may be the first, and last, time.

With summer here, new swimsuits are on most holidayers shopping list, so why not choose an environmentally friendly one? Treehugger has a slideshow of 10 of the best out there.

Heart Of Dryness Book Review

Heart of Dryness is by James G Workman and is subtitled “How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought”

I’ll admit I haven’t finished the book yet but I’m really enjoying it. An award winning journalist and one of Bill Clinton’s speech writers, Workman really knows how to write and bring home the relevance of the Kalahari Bushmen to our own backyard. The Colorado River dam has always interested me and hearing the river will be dry in 13 years is pretty shocking. The way water is used as a weapon by governments, the way it is rationed and provided to those who can pay the most, not those who need it the most, is equally disturbing and intriguing.

Neatly divided up into 8 parts, the book is a journey and a guide, well researched (there are 35 pages of notes at the end before you even get to the Bibliography or index) I’m looking forward to the rest of it. Anyone interested in the environment, water and/or different cultures will find this interesting reading indeed.

You can watch an interview with James below, and you can buy the book from Amazon for around $17 (hardcover).

Eco Matters At The Forefront Of People’s Minds

We’ve featured many products from Big Green Smile and now it’s time to feature some of the thoughts of those who work there. This first post links in nicely with the fact Big Green Smile is an online shop as it’s about eco products, written by Alasdair:

Climate change affects us all, but it’s good to see the ongoing economic crisis hasn’t taken over in people’s minds.

According to a report by Consumer Focus, the recession is not denting demand for eco products among Britons.

Indeed, sustainability expert Lucy Yates said: “Even now, when money is tighter than ever, people still want to buy products that are better for the environment.”

I’m inclined to agree with this point of view, as it was reinforced when I opened The Times this morning. A poll commissioned by the newspaper showed that nearly three-quarters of motorists have reduced their car use in the last 12 months.

By switching to public transport, they are clearly showing that ecological matters are at the forefront of their thinking.

Indeed, 14 per cent of respondents stated that the environment is the main reason why they have chosen to leave the car at home more frequently.

You can read more blog entries at Big Green Smile.

Echo Paper – Recycled Paper Review

Echo Paper sells 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper, in a variety of formats.

The paper is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). Their paper is also 100% process chlorine free and acid-free archival paper that will not yellow over time.

So why use recycled paper? Using 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper results in:

• 45% less energy use
• 38% less greenhouse gasses produced
• 45% less wastewater generated
• 50% less solid waste created
• 100% less wood use

In fact, using 20 cases of Envirographic 100 paper that is made with 100% post-consumer waste rather than non-recycled paper saves the following resources:

• 2 tons of wood used (approximately 13 trees)
• 4,700 gallons of water (273 eight-minute showers)
• 9 million btu of energy (enough energy to power an average American household for 37 days)
• 548 pounds of solid waste (18.5 thirty-two gallon garbage cans)
• 1,039 pounds of greenhouse gases (equivalent of carbon sequestered by about 13 tree seedlings grown for ten years)

Also Echo Paper plants a tree for every case sold, in partnership with Trees for the Future.

Now if I could just find out why paper in the US is three hole punched and in the UK two or four holes and a slightly different size….

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