Supermarkets have aisles full of household cleaning products, but it’s not that easy to find cruelty free products. A lot of the popular cleaning brands available in supermarkets test their ingredients/finished product on animals.
Many supermarkets use animal derived ingredients, others contain harsh chemicals that are harmful to the environment and living organisms. But these products are effective, affordable and readily available… well that’s not good enough for me and I hope you feel the same too.
All of The Co-operative own brand products are BUAV approved, which means they do not test on animals. They also label their household cleaning products suitable for Vegans which is great and I used to use pretty much all of their cleaning products but I no longer live near a Co-op :-( so I’ve had to search for alternative products.
My search for alternative cruelty free products has been with the help of The Animal Free Shopper from The Vegan Society and the Go Cruelty Free website run by BUAV.
Marks and Spencer have their own range of household cleaning products which are BUAV approved, but not all of their products are Vegan. Superdrug also has a range of household cleaning products that are BUAV approved. I’ve not used any of these. Waitrose supermarkets stock a brand of cleaning products called Method which are Vegan, they are a quite expensive range, but very effective.
I’m a big fan of a company called Earth Friendly Products. I love their Dishmate washing up liquid (almond scent, smells gorgeous) and Uni Fresh air freshener, (vanilla scent). I can get hold of these products from my local health/whole food shops.
I also use some of the Planet Clean products from time to time. These are available from Wilkinsons. The Planet Clean products are effective, Vegan Society approved and cheap too.
I’m currently looking into using Ecozone Eco washing balls, a soap free way to wash clothes. The balls contain mineral salts which release ionized oxygen when in water. The ionized oxygen penetrates deep into clothing breaking up and lifting off dirt and grease. Sounds like a great idea to me! I’ll let you know how I get on with them.
Asda, have their own Eco Friendly range of household products: laundry powder, laundry liquid detergent, fabric softener, toilet cleaner, and bathroom cleaner. The packaging states that the products are not tested on animals and that Asda is against animal testing and funds reseratch into alternatives. However there is no mention of the products being BUAV approved. The laundry powder is Vegetarian Society approved and the fabric conditioner is labelled as suitable for Vegans, but it isn’t Vegan Society approved.
So although Asda seem have a good range of Eco Friendly products, I’m a little confused when it comes to their labelling which puts doubt in my mind. They are not listed in The Animal Free Shopper or on the BUAV Go Cruelty Free website. I’m contacting Asda for some clarification and will be back to you with their response. It would be fantastic if such a large Supermarket had a cruelty free range of household products.
I would love to see the following listed cruelty free products available in all supermarkets (click the links to find out more about these companies):
It is so important that we support ethical, cruelty free companies, for the sake of animals, ourselves and the planet.
