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“Eco-friendly” and “green” are some buzzwords some brands use to describe products like hand soap, dish soap, and all-purpose sprays. But, they never actually explain what it means. According to experts, in most cases, it means nothing at all. These labels don’t indicate any certification and, upon further inspection, contain the same ingredients that the regular formulas do.
This can cause a problem for shoppers who are looking for sustainable cleaning solutions that are natural, plant-based, and non-toxic but still get the job done. We’re here to help you in searching for sustainable cleaning solutions that help keep your home clean without using products that can be harmful to your family.
Traditional soaps can often be found full of toxic chemicals that penetrate the skin and lead to serious health conditions, even if they are washing dirt and germs away. Knowing what ingredients to avoid is the first step towards choosing sustainable, non-toxic hand soap that still rids your hands of germs. Parabens, unspecified fragrance, 1, 4-Dioxane, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and triclosan are just a few ingredients that have been found to lead to immune system compromise, antibiotic resistance, skin irritation, and organ damage.
It can be confusing on the best way to get extra protection against germs and viruses you need while avoiding chemicals that tend to wash them away. Narrowing down soap qualities and ingredients will help ensure you’re using the proper soap in your home. You’ll want to use one of the many sustainable hand soaps available, but one that also gets rid of germs without causing irritation. You’ll also want it to be fragranced with a blend of essential oils and other naturally derived ingredients, and you want your hand soap to list the fragrance ingredients and allergens to help in your choice.
Not only do you use dish soap to clean dishes, but your hands are heavily involved in washing, exposing your skin to whatever harmful ingredients may be in it. Most popular dish soaps contain ingredients like methylisothiazolinone, C9-11 Paeth-8, SLS, DECETH-8, and unspecified fragrances. Most of these ingredients lead to acute aquatic toxicity, skin irritation, cancer, respiratory effects, and organ damage.
Choosing a sustainable dish soap is not only helpful in protecting your family from ingredients that can lead to long-term health concerns but it's also a step towards protecting our waterways. In general, sustainable dish soaps are chlorine and phosphate-free, made from plant or mineral-based ingredients to not only help protect you but also the environment. Naturally scented with plants and essential oils or fragrance-free dish soaps are also a bonus for those with sensitive noses and/or skin.
We all know that plastic has a damaging effect on the environment. In an effort to make products easier to ship and gentler on the earth, many household companies have started to experiment with sustainable soap refill options for cleaning products like hand soap to multipurpose cleaners. These allow you to buy one reusable bottle for your soap and refill it when you run out, saving on plastic waste.
But, what does the refill come in? When looking for sustainable soap refills, you want to make sure that the refill doesn’t make the same negative contribution to the environment as buying another plastic bottle. For example, L’AVANT Collective sells their soaps in the original, 16-ounce glass countertop bottle, and then supplies 32-ounce refill pouches to replenish. Not only do the glass bottles look gorgeous and are more sustainable than plastic, but the refill pouch uses 61% less plastic than a 32-ounce plastic bottle.
Sustainable Multipurpose Cleaner Refill
Popular all-purpose cleaners’ harmful ingredients are prevalent. The EWG’s investigation of more than 2,000 cleaning supplies found that many contain substances linked to serious health problems like asthma, cancer, chemical burns, poisonings, and allergies. A large and growing body of evidence even links the frequent use of many ordinary cleaning supplies at home or jobs with the development of asthma and other respiratory problems.
Environmental safety and human health go hand-in-hand. In addition to non-toxic ingredients, you may also want to consider the environmental impact of your cleaning products with sustainable multipurpose cleaner refills. Not only will it help clean surfaces from dirt, grease, and grime, but it makes any powerhouse plant-based cleaner even more sustainable.
L’AVANT Collective Sustainable Cleaning Solutions
L’AVANT Collective was created from the constant demand for cleaning up after kids and pets but wanting the products we used to be non-toxic, highly effective, and conveniently located. We wanted to merge our modern home interiors and styles with the products we use daily in a sustainable, plant-based way.
For L’AVANT, a natural product means that more than 95% of the ingredients are considered naturally derived, meaning it derives from a natural, renewable source found in nature with no petroleum compounds. This can mean from coconut, aloe, salt, olive oil, chamomile leaves, lemons, sunflowers, green tea, corn, and more. Many of our products are higher than 95%, which is why we describe our products as natural, plant-based, plant-derived, eco-friendly, or naturally derived. We provide a list of every ingredient that we use on our labels, as well as on our website.
Shop our collection of powerful, plant-based cleaning products - like our eco friendly laundry detergent - in their beautiful, refillable bottles.
