Top 3 Sustainable Cleaning Brands For Home & Body
- Madi Maitland
- Feb 16
- 5 min read
Three cleaning brands stand out from competitors regarding sustainability: Blueland, The Honest Company, and Dr. Bronner's.
Consumer concern and awareness of the sustainability of their preferred cleaning brands has increased in recent years. In fact, according to GreenPrint's 2022 Business of Sustainability index, 75% of all respondents expressed concern about the environmental impact of a product. Sixty-nine percent reported sustainability as being a heavy influencer in their purchasing decisions.
This demand for sustainability from cleaning products could result from increased research showing the harmful effects of traditional cleaning products on both health and the environment.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), conventional cleaning products can contain harmful chemicals that might be attributed to skin, eye, respiratory irritation, and other health issues. Additionally, these traditional cleaning products can sometimes be classified as hazardous, causing some major disposal issues for consumers.
However, consumers must be cautious when purchasing "sustainable" cleaning brands, as greenwashing is rising. Greenwashing is the practice of making misleading, unwarranted, and exaggerated claims of sustainability to gain market share.
To help consumers navigate between greenwashing and truly sustainable cleaning products, the EPA developed the Safer Choice Program, which offers certifications for cleaning products that contain ingredients deemed safer for both human and environmental health. The EPA also provides Design for the Environment (DfE) certification, including their certified label and logo, for products evaluated on human health, performance, packaging, ingredients, and environment. When a cleaning product displays a DfE logo, consumers can feel confident in their product's sustainability.
With consumers' growing demand for sustainability, cleaning brands have started listening. Some of the leaders in the movement are Blueland, The Honest Company, and Dr. Bronner's.
1. Blueland
Founded in 2018, Blueland has offered its customers home cleaning and personal care products, with sustainability as the central focus.
With their unique operating system, which allows customers to buy bottles once and refill them indefinitely, the Blueland team has been able to accomplish impressive statistics:
Over 1 billion single-use plastic bottles have been eliminated from landfills and oceans since 2019.
10,807,946 square feet of plastic packaging saved.
2,696,424 pounds of C02 saved.
Using a recyclable shipping box, paper-based tape, compostable refill packaging, no single-use plastic, and water-based inks, The Blueland team has been carbon neutral since 2020 and Climate Neutral Certified since 2021.
Some other certifications that the Blueland team boasts include:
B Corp certified: Ensures that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, transparency, and accountability on issues including employee benefits, charitable giving, supply chain practices, and input materials.
Cradle to Cradle certified: Assesses the safety, circularity, and responsibility of materials and products across five categories: material health, product circularity, social fairness, water and soil stewardship, and clean air and climate protection.
EPA Safer Choice certified: Helps consumers find products that contain safer ingredients for human and environmental health. One of the ways the EPA does this is through its Pollution Prevention Program, which reduces, eliminates, and prevents pollution at its source–like certifying cleaning products that contain ingredients safer for humans and the environment.
MADE SAFE certified: Products sealed with MADE SAFE have passed screening for over 6,500 banned/restricted hazardous ingredients. Companies pursuing MADE SAFE certification have also agreed to have every added substance of their product reviewed thoroughly to assess the product for broader impact.
USDA BioPreferred certified: Ensures consumers that the product they're considering purchasing contains a verified amount of renewable biological ingredients.
EWG verified: Products cannot have any ingredients with health concerns or concerns for ecotoxicity or contamination. The product must also meet EWG's standard for ingredient disclosure on the label, providing complete information to EWG, including fragrance ingredients. Lastly, manufacturers must follow good manufacturing practices to ensure product safety.
Leaping Bunny certified: Ensures the product, and any of its ingredients, has not been involved with animal testing.
2. The Honest Company
The Honest Company was brought to life in 2012 by actress and activist Jessica Alba to produce consumers products they could trust. The company supplies various products, from baby diapers and wipes to personal care and makeup.
Its vigorous ingredient and material assessment makes The Honest Company a sustainable leader. With an in-house established NO-LIST, It has chosen over 3,500 chemicals and materials they have refused to use for their products.
The Honest Company has also committed to caring for the people around them. The team has donated over 25 million essential products, spent 18,000 hours serving various communities during disaster relief efforts, and partnered with multiple organizations, such as Baby2Baby, which provides diapers, wipes, and other items to children in at-risk communities.
On top of that, The Honest Company is also operating with 100% post-consumer recycled shippers, making the team carbon-neutral in their shipping efforts.
Just a few certifications of the Honest Company include USDA BioPreferred certified, EPA Safer Choice certified, and EWG verified.
3. Bronner's
Operating as the top-selling soap company in the U.S. natural marketplace, Dr. Bronner's boasts of its top-of-the-line ingredients, made without synthetic preservatives, detergents, or foaming agents.
Dr. Bronner's has been in business for 75 years, but their soap has been around for 165 years as early ancestors began making the products in Laupheim, Germany, in 1858. Along with personal-care products, Dr. Bronner's also produces various cleaning supplies made with "better-for-you" ingredients.
According to the brand's 2023 Sustainability Report, the team was able to roll out the world's first "Bulk Refill Station" at Jimbo's Naturally grocery store in Carmel Valley, California. This station allows consumers to refill their containers with Dr. Bronner's soap, eliminating the need for single-use plastic. The refill station at Jimbo's was so successful that Dr. Bronner's soap outsold competing soaps sold in traditional plastic. Dr. Bronner's plans to expand their refill program to all Jimbo stores across the U.S. as well as other retailers who have expressed interest.
While Dr. Bronner's products have been packaged in post-consumer recycled plastic since 2003, they recently decided to transition to paper cartons instead, as this was determined to have the most minor environmental impact. According to their total waste generation report for 2022, their impact includes 22% recycled, 25% compost, and 32% reused. This leaves only 16% to landfill.
When Serendipalm, Dr. Bronner's sister company in Eastern Ghana, reported high levels of littered plastic in their town, Dr. Bronner's facilitated a waste collection operation to clean up the plastic in several neighboring communities. The plastic collected is then sorted, baled, and cleaned, which allows it to be reused for building materials or used again for post-consumer material packaging in Europe.
Dr. Bronner's is certified organic by USDA, Fair for Life, Oregon Tilth, Non-GMO, Vegan Action, and EWG Verified.
Conclusion
For consumers interested in purchasing cleaning products from sustainable brands, much research will be required to avoid falling prey to the notorious greenwashing. The best way to confirm the sustainability of cleaning brands would be to check their certifications and read any reports published on the brand.
Comments