When you're standing in the supermarket, there's usually a three-way tussle going on between your head, your heart and your wallet.
You want products that work, are kind to the planet, but don't cost too much. It can be almost impossible to balance the three.
And since we're all feeling the pinch at the checkout, it can be hard to justify paying extra for an environmentally-friendly product if you're not sure that it'll do the job.
It can be hard to justify paying extra for an environmentally-friendly product if you're not sure it'll do the job
So how can you make sure you're getting bang for your buck both financially and environmentally, without condemning yourself to extra scrubbing time to make up for lacklustre performance?
Our experts test hundreds of household cleaning products a year, pitting eco products against regular ones to see how well they stack up.
Here are the ones that are good for your conscience, your budget and your cleaning regime – and the ones to avoid.
On this page:
- How much can you trust eco claims?
- Surface cleaners
- Glass and window cleaners
- Floor cleaners
- Dishwashing products
- Laundry detergent
How much can you trust eco claims?
It can be hard to separate the facts from the marketing fluff – and there's a lot of greenwashing out there and there aren't many rules around 'eco' labelling.
Unlike free-range and organic labels, which require certification, terms like "natural", "green" and "no nasty chemicals" aren't regulated.
Some companies really talk up their products' enviro credentials, but if you dig a bit deeper you might find that there's not much substance to them.
Our advice is to look into the detail behind eco claims and be wary of greenwashing
Unfortunately CHOICE can't test the enviro claims of every product that comes through our labs.
Shop Ethical ratings can help you decide if you want to buy a company's products.
They're difficult to substantiate, and the cost is prohibitive – spending all our money on chemical tests would mean we couldn't test other products for our members and other shoppers.
Our advice is to look into the detail behind eco claims and be wary of greenwashing.
It's important to note as well that even if a product claims to be made from plant-based ingredients, there's also the environmental impact of things like its manufacturing, packaging and transport to take into account.
You can also check the Shop Ethical ratings of companies whose products you're buying. We include these in all our reviews.
We recommend that you approach 'eco' claims on cleaning products with a healthy scepticism.
Surface cleaners
If you want to green up your cleaning routine, remember that less is more. Our tests show that multipurpose cleaners and kitchen sprays do pretty much the same thing, so just pick one and you'll be fine.
CHOICE experts advise that it's a good idea to use something specific for the bathroom to tackle soap scum, though, as it's a tricky customer, so don't take that off your shopping list.
We recommend buying a multipurpose spray and a bathroom cleaner and that's all you should need for surface cleaning.
A multipurpose spray and a bathroom cleaner is all you should need for surface cleaning
Trimming back your cleaning cupboard is good for the environment, too – the fewer cleaning products you're buying, the less plastic and carbon emissions from manufacturing and transport are created. If you're going to buy something, make its environmental impact count!
Here are the multipurpose and bathroom cleaners that make various eco claims that performed well in our expert testing.
Multipurpose cleaners
Products that say they are greener really shone in our multipurpose cleaners test, with four of our recommended products claiming to be more eco-friendly, holding their own against regular products.
Two Earth Choice products topped our tests, both receiving a CHOICE Expert Rating of 95%.
Two Earth Choice products topped our tests, both receiving a CHOICE Expert Rating of 95%
Not only did it outperform traditional products, Earth Choice Antibacterial All-Purpose spray costs just 67 cents per 100mL – the cheapest of all the multipurpose cleaners recommended by our experts.
Earth Choice Undo This Mess with Grease Blaster tied for first place with the Antibacterial All-Purpose spray, but it's a lot more expensive: $1.26 per 100mL. It's actually the most expensive of all the recommended products, by a reasonable margin.
There's no denying that it'll do a great job, but considering that you'll get exactly the same results for far less money with the antibacterial spray, it's hard to justify the extra cost.
Earth Choice Antibacterial All-Purpose spray received (equal) top marks in our review.
Top-scoring multipurpose cleaners with eco claims
- Earth Choice Antibacterial All Purpose: CHOICE Expert Rating: 95%
- Earth Choice Undo This Mess with Grease Blaster Multipurpose: 95%
- Koh Universal Cleaner Ultimate Multi Purpose: 90%
- Bosisto's Multipurpose: 85%
Even some mainstream products are jumping on the green bandwagon to some degree. Nifti All Purpose Cleaner – another recommended multipurpose cleaner – now sports a 100% recycled bottle.
The 'eco' multi-purpose cleaning products to avoid
Unfortunately it isn't all good news. While some eco cleaning products sparkled, others were lacklustre to say the least, scoring only marginally better than plain tap water.
While water scores 45% in our cleaning tests and costs virtually nothing, the following products making eco claims score just 5% more with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 50%.
While some eco cleaning products sparkled, others scored only marginally better than plain tap water
Some are concentrated cleaning tablets or refillable products, which could go a long way to reduce the amount of plastic in your cleaning routine, or are made with only natural or plant-based materials.
However if they're only performing marginally better than water, arguably both you and the environment would be better off if you saved your cash and scrubbed with H2O instead.
Thankyou Universal Cleaner: not much better than plain water.
- Plain water: CHOICE Expert Rating: 45%
- Thankyou Universal Cleaner: 50%
- Zero Co Multi Purpose Cleaner: 50%
- Resolv All-Purpose Cleaner (dissolvable tablets): 50%
- Re.stor Concentrated Cleaning Tablets Kitchen & All Purpose: 50%
- Eco Turtles Cleaning Multipurpose (dissolvable tablet): 50%
- Ecostore Antibacterial Multi-Purpose Cleaner: 50%
- Ajax Eco Multipurpose Cleaner: 50%
- Coles Green Choice Multi-Purpose Cleaner: 50%
- Aldi Green Action Multi Purpose Cleaner Antibacterial: 50%
Bathroom cleaners
Green is not generally a colour you want to see in your bathroom – but there's one type of green you'll appreciate having.
The Ecostore Antibacterial Bathroom and Shower Cleaner Refill Concentrate not only topped our tests with an impressive CHOICE Expert Rating of 90%, but it's reportedly made from plant-based ingredients and it's a concentrated product, which means less plastic packaging.
That's a double win in our book.
And, if you're looking to save money on your cleaning products, a great-value plant-based formula was not far behind: Aldi Green Action Plant Based Formula Bath & Shower Cleaner scored 89%.
It costs just 50 cents per 100mL, so it's good for your budget as well as your bathroom.
This Ecostore bathroom cleaner came out on top, beating even traditional cleaning products.
The top-scoring bathroom cleaners that have eco claims:
- Ecostore Antibacterial Bathroom & Shower Cleaner Refill Concentrate: CHOICE Expert Rating: 90%
- Aldi Green Action Plant Based Formula Bath & Shower Cleaner: 89%
- Earth Choice Antibacterial Bath & Shower Cleaner: 89%
- Ecostore Antibacterial Bathroom & Shower Cleaner: 89%
- Simply Clean Simply No Mould: 86%
Re.stor cleaning tablets were one of three dissolvable products in the bottom six performers.
The 'eco' bathroom cleaning products to avoid
While some 'eco' products shone in our tests, unfortunately some weren't up to scratch.
Five of the six lowest-scoring bathroom cleaners all have eco claims, with three of those being dissolvable products (tablets, pods and powders).
- Re.stor Concentrated Cleaning Tablets Bathroom: CHOICE Expert Rating: 40%
- Bosisto's Bathroom and Shower Cleaner: 54%
- Saba Organic Bathroom Cleaner: 55%
- Cleanery Bathroom Antibacterial Cleaner (dissolvable powder): 55%
- Resolv Bathroom Cleaner (dissolvable pod): 57%
Glass and window cleaners
If you're looking for a planet-friendly window cleaner, you might be better off sticking with old-fashioned vinegar and newspaper.
None of the eco glass cleaners we tested impressed, with the highest score for these coming in at a mediocre 65%.
None of the eco glass cleaners we tested impressed, with the highest score a mediocre 65%
What's worse, though, is that four 'eco' products scored exactly the same as plain water and two of them were actually worse than plain water.
A product that does nothing more than plain water but still impacts the environment through its manufacture, packaging and transport? That's anything but eco-friendly.
These cleaners all have eco claims, but they also won't do much to clean your glass and windows. The results are transparent: don't buy them.
Koala Eco Natural Glass cleaner performed worse than water but costs a huge $2.49 per 100mL!
The 'eco' glass and window cleaners to avoid:
- Re.stor Concentrated Cleaning Tablets Glass Mirror: CHOICE Expert Rating: 35%
- Koala Eco Natural Glass Cleaner: 45%
- Plain water: 55%
- Wash Wild Glass Cleaner: 55%
- Saba Organics Window & Glass Cleaner: 55%
- Resolv Window & Glass Cleaner (dissolvable pod): 55%
- Ecostore Glass Cleaner: 55%
Floor cleaners
The most effective eco-friendly floor cleaner you can use is nothing. Yep, nada. Just plain water.
Our experts have tested plenty of floor cleaners and couldn't find a single one that was good enough to recommend – eco or not.
Even the 'highest scoring' products were barely better than water: the top scorer (a traditional product) came in at just 49%.
The most effective eco-friendly floor cleaner you can use is nothing: yep, just plain water
Fed up with how poorly floor cleaners clean (or rather, don't), we awarded the entire product category of floor cleaners a CHOICE Shonky award in 2020.
Seriously, just grab a bucket of hot water and get mopping. It's better for the environment and your bank balance. Plus, it's basically a free workout!
Dishwashing products
The water in your kitchen sink or dishwasher inevitably goes down the drain, so it makes sense to choose dishwashing products that will have the least impact on our waterways.
But you don't have to give up on clean dishes to keep the planet clean, whether you're washing by hand or having a machine do it for you.
Orange Power dishwashing liquid performed better than some traditional products.
Dishwashing liquids
A good dishwashing liquid will make short work of greasy pots and pans, but a bad one will see you stuck at the kitchen sink for longer.
Two 'eco' dishwashing liquids are recommended by our experts, but plenty more only just missed out on recommended status but are still worth considering.
Interestingly, one of these products is from a mainstream brand – Palmolive – yet it spruiks eco claims such as biodegradable cleaning ingredients, recycled bottle, and no parabens, phosphates or phthalates. However, compared to other eco products, this one only has minimal claims.
These two eco dishwashing liquids all cleaned up in our tests, performing as well as (and often better than) regular products, and earning them a recommendation from our experts.
- Orange Power Dishwashing Liquid High Performance Dishwash Concentrate: CHOICE Expert Rating: 75%
- Palmolive Ultra Eco Coconut And Lime Dishwashing Liquid: 75%
CHOICE Best Buy: Earth Choice Dishwash Liquid.
And we've named one eco product as a CHOICE Best Buy: it offers great value for money but doesn't quite meet the criteria to be recommended.
These products didn't score a recommendation from our experts, but they're just five percentage points behind the products above, so they're worth considering if you're after an enviro-friendly dishwashing liquid. They all scored 70%.
- Earth Choice Ultra Concentrate Antibacterial Dishwashing Liquid
- Ecostore Dish Liquid Lemon
- Koala Eco Natural Dish Soap Australian Lemon Myrtle and Mandarin
- Morning Fresh Clean and Green with Natural Lemon Ultra Concentrate
- Zero Co Finger Lime & Davidson Plum Dishwash Liquid
Not great but not terrible: Earth Choice Undo This Mess dishwashing liquid.
Eco dishwashing liquids to avoid
These products aren't terrible, but they're also not great. They all scored 60% – which is not a great deal better than plain water, which scored 45%.
- Earth Choice Undo This Mess with Ultra Mint & Lime Time
- Earth Choice Ultra Concentrate Lemon Burst Dishwashing Liquid
- Coles Green Choice 2-in-1 Dish + Hand Wash
Dishwasher detergents
Cheaping out on dishwasher detergents is a false economy. If your detergents do a bad job, you'll have to wash the dishes twice, which is a waste of time, money, water and electricity – not good for the environment or your patience.
And as much as powder dishwasher detergents seem like a good option if you're on a budget, we suggest you don't bother: they perform poorly compared to dishwasher tablets, eco-friendly or not.
Ecostore's Ultra Power dishwasher tablets was one of the top performers in our test.
- Ecostore Ultra Power Dishwasher Tablets: CHOICE Expert Rating: 76%
- Earth Choice All-In-1 Dish Tablets: 74%
- Eco Planet Automatic Dishwasher Tablets: 74%
- Earth Choice Undo This Mess Dish Tablets: 73%
These detergent sheets are no better than just using water in your dishwasher.
Eco dishwasher detergents to avoid
While there were still some poor performers in our latest test of dishwasher detergents, it was pleasing to see that no product was as bad as using plain water.
The lowest performing detergents come in sheet form: a sheet of paper embedded with detergent, that disintegrates in water to release the detergent.
When we tested the Lucent Globe Ultra Concentrated Dishwashing Detergent Sheets in 2023 the result was as bad as using plain water, with a CHOICE Expert Rating of only 12%. While we still rate this year's result as 'poor', we're pleased to see the results improving and moving in the right direction.
Sheet products haven't performed well in our other tests either, coming in at the bottom of the table for laundry detergents. (See below for more info.)
We think they're a good idea, but they need some more development before they work as well as traditional detergents.
These are the lowest-scoring dishwasher detergents with eco claims:
- Plain water: CHOICE Expert Rating: 7%
- Lucent Globe Ultra Concentrated Dishwashing Detergent Sheets: 30%
- Earth Rescue Dishwasher Detergent Sheets: 33%
- Earth Choice Dishwasher Powder: 44%
- Resolv 0% Dishwasher Tablets: 50%
Laundry detergent
Buying an eco-friendly laundry detergent is important, but it's not the only piece of the puzzle – what you do with your laundry has more of an impact than what you use.
So before you even look at changing your laundry products, look at your laundry routine to see where you can save water, power, and consumables to reduce your environmental footprint.
You'll also save money while you're at it – that's a win-win for you and the planet.
Here are our tips for giving your laundry routine an eco-friendly makeover.
CHOICE tip: What you don't use can be just as important as what you do use. Consider dropping fabric softeners, laundry beads and dryer balls, and only use your dryer if you absolutely have to. Also, ask yourself if something really needs washing or could be spot cleaned instead.
The best eco laundry detergents from our tests
None of the eco-friendly laundry detergents we tested performed especially well and none are recommended by our experts, but these were the ones that received the highest CHOICE Expert Rating.
We test each detergent's performance in both front- and top-loading machines so you can see which will perform best in your washer.
Zero Co's liquid laundry detergent was the highest scoring eco product for front loaders.
Front loader:
- Zero Co Lemon Myrtle & Australian Grey Gum Laundry Liquid: CHOICE Expert Rating: 70%
- Earth Choice Undo This Mess with Gold Standard Laundry Liquid: 69%
- Earth Choice Undo This Mess with Stain Blaster Laundry Liquid: 69%
Euca Concentrate Eucalyptus Laundry Powder: the best of an ordinary bunch.
Top loader
It's a bit hard to say that there are any 'best' products here – even the highest-scoring detergent didn't perform particularly well. This is because top loaders don't perform as well as front loaders in general, so the detergents don't perform well in top loaders.
Euca Concentrate Eucalyptus Laundry Powder received the highest CHOICE Expert Rating at a decidedly average 58%, so it's an okay option if you have your heart set on an eco detergent for your top loader. It'll set you back 77 cents per wash.
Bosisto's Sensitive Laundry Powder came in not far behind at 56% and costs 86 cents per wash.
The laundry detergents with eco claims to avoid
Unfortunately, there were plenty of eco products making an appearance at the bottom of the leaderboard, which goes to show how important it is to do your research rather than just picking the product with the best-sounding claims.
If you see these products on the shelf, leave them there. Some of them aren't much better than just using plain water.
Re.stor Pre-measured Laundry Detergent Sheets: another disappointing detergent sheet product, in both top and front loaders.
Front loader
- Plain water: CHOICE Expert Rating: 50%
- Re.stor Pre-measured Laundry Detergent Sheets Tropical Breeze: 52%
- Earth Choice 3 in 1 Triple Action Laundry Capsules Fresh Burst with Eucalyptus Oil: 54%
Top loader
- Plain water: CHOICE Expert Rating: 45%
- Aldi Green Action Laundry Liquid: 46%
- Re.stor Pre-measured Laundry Detergent Sheets Tropical Breeze: 47%
- Lucent Globe Ultra Concentrated Laundry Detergent Sheets Ocean Breeze: 47%
- Ecostore 3x Concentrate Laundry Liquid: 47%
- Ecostore Ultra Sensitive Laundry Liquid: 48%
- Ecostore Laundry Liquid Eucalyptus: 48%
- Earth Rescue Laundry Detergent Sheets Fresh Linen: 48%
- Earth Choice 6in1 Multi-Action Stain Removal Laundry Liquid Tasmanian Lavender & Boronia: 48%
- Earth Choice Laundry Liquid Pure Clean: 49%
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
