You’ve decided to switch to nontoxic, Eco cleaning products, but how do you start? The first Part of this series covered going 21st century, using modern science. This is Part 2, the next step to choosing the best Eco or green cleaning products, ask yourself:
Fred the Cocker Spaniel, helping with the laundry! Image rights: Donna Kelly
2. Is it made locally? Buying local is very important if you want to consider your product eco! You’ve heard of food miles? The same applies to cleaning product miles; and in fact all FMCGs (Fast Moving Consumer Goods, or supermarket items) For us in Australia that means not imported from anywhere further away than Sydney to Perth. A cleaning product which has traveled a long way (some travel half way around the world) is in no way Eco. It may be safe and natural, but not environmental. There are very effective, safe and natural cleaning products made locally. Why would you bring a litre of something that is mostly water, half way around the world, just so you can wash your smelly socks? If anyone is going to do any traveling, it’s going to be me, not my laundry liquid!
There are many more reasons for buying local, so if you need further convincing, here goes: We have laws regarding wages and work conditions, laws for ingredient declaration and laws for truth in advertising and labeling, laws for permitted ingredients and we have weights and measures regulations. Whilst these laws can still be improved on, we have better controls than some other places and there are some ingredients which are allowed to be used elsewhere but not (or no longer) allowed here. And if you encounter a problem with a product, there are avenues for recourse. Last but not least, waste is controlled by local regulation, so you can be more confident that rivers are not being polluted just so that you can do your cleaning.
There is also the very timely issue that buying local is better for the economy. We need jobs locally, and we really need to keep some manufacturing industry locally.
So use some Eco Common Sense and buy ‘Local, Local, Local!’, wherever you are. (Of course if you’re in Sydney, check out our range of excellent and Australian Eco cleaning products here.)
Eco Scribbles 
I do accept as true with all of the ideas you’ve introduced to your
post. They are really convincing and will certainly work.
Nonetheless, the posts are very quick for starters. May you please lengthen them a little from next time?
Thank you for the post.