Ecover Loses Its Vegan Label

If you want to improve your eco record dramatically, a switch to green washing detergents works miracles. There are many good products on the market and by far the best perhaps is Ecover, the Belgian headquartered international producer of cleaning materials.

Ecover is a reputable product mostly because it has been around for so long. It’s built up its brand for over 25 years. Ecover’s main attraction is that their products allow you to save on your water bill too; after using Ecover’s laundry or dishwashing detergents, you can save the wastewater and use that to water plants, gardens and grass! You need to let it stand for about five to seven days, to ensure that all harming agents have died out.

In a recent issue of the US magazine Consumer Reports, the company scored higher than Dawn on its dishwashing liquid, so their stuff must be good for scrubbing. The company’s Ecological Dishwashing Liquid scored in the top eleventh percentile. That means that mose people using it rated it better than many leading ‘normal’ national brands. Ecover’s products are phosphate-free and made from renewable plant and mineral-based cleaning agents.

“The absence of phosphates and other harmful additives in our cleansers, means our products have the least impact on aquatic environments and are 100% safe for use with grey watering systems,” a company spokesman told the US magazine. Sounds convincing?

The company’s ethical standards are incredibly high. At the end of last year the company gave up its use of the Vegan Society logo because it says it can’t guarantee it will exclude tests on water fleas and rabbits’ blood. Ecover tests on water fleas and rabbit blood to detect danger, respectively, to aquatic life and human skin. Ecover pointed out in news releases that only 0.5ml of rabbit blood is used to test one new product, and the shortage of human red blood cells makes the use of human blood more unethical. Give the guys a break. I appreciate the honesty.

Aside from biodegradable and phosphate-free washing-up liquid and washing powder, the company offers a range of other cleaning products.