Which Bathroom Cleasner Gets the Go Green Light?

Which Bathroom Cleanser Gets The Go Green Light?

Sure, you’ve greened your bathroom – fixing leaks and retrofitting for low-flow flushes – but what happens when you clean your bathroom? Are you undoing all your good deeds by flushing toxins down your toilet?

Many conventional toilet bowl cleaners contain corrosive ingredients like hydrochloric acid and chlorine bleach that can irritate eyes, skin, and the respiratory tract, and can be fatal if swallowed. Phosphates, which can cause harmful algal blooms, are also commonly used in bathroom cleaning products.

Natural toilet-bowl cleaners replace these harsh chemicals with plant- and mineral-based ingredients that are nontoxic and biodegradable. But are these eco-products worth a shit? I decided to find out. (Hey, it’s my potty, and I’ll try if I want to!)

I gathered eight different eco-options and wielded a toilet-bowl scrubby brush against the evils of long-mellowed toilet bowls near and far. Here are the results:

Biokleen Soy Toilet Scrub
Eco-claims: Environmentally friendly with no negative effects on rivers, streams, plants, or wildlife; kind to those with chemical sensitivities and allergies; no artificial fragrance, colors, or preservatives; 99 percent VOC free and ozone safe; contains no phosphate, chlorine, ammonia, petroleum solvents, alcohol, butyl, glycol ether, SLS or SLES, EDTA, DEA, No SARA Title II, CA 65, or EPA priority pollutants; no materials listed by the ACGIH as hazardous; no animal testing or animal ingredients
Scent: Mint
Price: $4.99 / 32 fl. oz.

This soy scrub is a thick, white paste; add that to the minty scent and it feels a bit like you’re squirting the toilet with kaopectate. It does cover the bowl well, but the opaque white coloring makes it hard to see where it’s been squirted – and also where there might be extra dirty spots to scrub. It works OK, and it’s one of the few that doesn’t require a soaking or wait time, which is nice if you’re in a hurry to freshen up before a surprise visit from the mother in law.

Clorox Green Works Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Eco-claims: Made with plant- and mineral-based ingredients; biodegradable; not tested on animals; contains no phosphorus or bleach
Scent: Original (lemony)
Price: $2.59 / 24 fl. oz.

Don’t let the Clorox name on this one scare you – there’s no bleach in this product. Like the other Green Works products, it carries the Sierra Club logo and promises natural ingredients. It delivers on Clorox cleaning power, though – producing the cleanest bowl of the bunch. The thick green liquid fully covers the toilet bowl and the mild lemony/lime scent is pleasant. My only complaint would be that it produces long-lasting bubbles that don’t go away, even with a second flush.

Ecover Ecological Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Eco-claims: Plant-based ingredients—not based on petrochemical ingredients; no chemical residue; optimum level of biodegradability (far exceeds legislative requirements); safe for river and marine life; no animal testing
Scent: Pine
Price: $3.99 / 25 fl. oz.

I like that the bottle notes that Ecover’s ecological factory is built using a grass roof for insulation, wood beams from sustainable forest, and bricks made from coal mine waste. However, the contents are less likable – the strong piney scent almost made me gag as I scrubbed the toilet. And the color-less liquid made it hard to see which parts of the toilet bowl were covered.

Seventh Generation Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Eco-claims: Nontoxic; biodegradable; no dyes; not tested on animals; no animal ingredients
Scent: Emerald cypress and fir
Price: $3.59 / 32 fl. oz.

While the Ecover product left a strong artificial piney scent, the Seventh Generation cleaner had much more natural pine scent to it, leaving the bathroom smelling like a forest rather than a Pine-Sol crime scene. Unfortunately, it was not as strong a cleaner as some of the other options – getting the bowl only about 80 percent clean after a hefty scrubbing down.

Method Lil’ Bowl Blu
Eco-claims: Nontoxic, naturally derived, biodegradable; not tested on animals
Scent: Eucalyptus mint
Price: $5.49 / 24 fl. oz.

This one definitely gets points for creative design and marketing – the curvy bottle is cute enough to leave out and the wordsmiths at Method are as punny as (some) Grist staffers. The blue liquid cleans fairly well, but the strong piney-eucalyptus scent fumes are long lasting and too strong to be pleasant.

Earth Friendly Products Toilet Kleener
Eco-claims: Does not contain phosphates, dyes, or perfumes; does not contain SLS or Cocamide DEA
Scent: Natural cedar
Price: $2.99 / 24 fl. oz.

This one has a mild smell – more burnt orange than cedar. My main complaint about it (aside from the Kute product name!) is that it is so thick that it doesn’t flow down the bowl to cover it. Instead, the thick, clear get clings right where you squirt it. You’re supposed to leave it there 5-10 minutes, but I’m not sure the purpose, as it will only clean the thin line where it lands until you scrub.

J.R. Watkins Natural Home Care Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Eco-claims:  Biodegradable; no animal ingredients; free of ammonia, benzene, boron, butyl cellosolve, chlorine, dye, ether, formaldehyde, isopropanol, kerosene, mineral spirit, toxin, perfume, petrochemicals, phosphate, phosphoric acid, propylene glycol, SLS, sulfate, sulfuric acid
Scent: Lemon, natural cedar
Price: $4.99 / 24 fl. oz.

This cleaner had a mild lemon scent – not too overpowering – and got the bowl mostly clean, though it recommends soaking overnight for tough stains. It was a clearish, cloudy color, which made it hard to see what parts of the bowl it covered. Bonus points for the “Gristy” labeling on the bottle boasting its “conscience cleaning power” and “guilt/anxiety-free contents.”

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Eco-claims: Cruelty-free, not tested on animals; septic safe; biodegradable; no chlorine or solvents
Scent: Lemon verbena
Price: $4.99 / 32 fl. oz.

The “lemon verbena” scent was piney rather than being citrusy, but it still offered a bit of a “pick-me-up” effect. The toilet bowl was nice and white after scrubbing the blue cleaner away. This is a good choice, though more expensive than some of the other options.


The bottom line: The best clean for the least green was the Clorox Green Works Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner. For about a dollar more, Mrs. Meyer’s is also a good option.

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-19-natural-toilet-bowl-cleaner

Look out, Rover. Robots are man's new best friend

Look out, Rover. Robots are man's new best friend

May 27, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Skillings 
Staff Writer, CNET News

Sylvia the German shepherd is learning to live with robots.

The 6-year-old, curious canine was recently adopted by the Tambascia family in Brockton, Mass. There was one problem: a trio of house-cleaning robots--two Roombas, and one Scooba--already lived there.

"She didn't know whether to eat the robots or run," Joy Tambascia said. "She still tries to eat them or attack them on occasion--kind of how dogs react to the regular vacuum."

If Sylvia's conundrum sounds like a topic more worthy of Oprah's magazine than Scientific American, you're right: the robot of today and the near future is a lot more mundane (and probably a lot more useful) than the robot of science fiction.

For many people who own them, iRobot's Roomba is a regular vacuum cleaner. Roughly the diameter of a hubcap and about as thick as dictionary, it crisscrosses a floor autonomously, recognizes the difference between carpet and hard surface, senses stairs, and when battery power runs low, it automatically locates and returns to its docking station.

The Roomba is typical of commercial robotics in the early 21st century: There is no white-faced Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" who would desperately like to learn to whistle. Don't expect chatty C-3POs, intrepid R2-D2s, or killer Terminators. Instead, robots are humble devices that do menial labor, and they're on the verge of becoming household fixtures.

"People have such great expectations of robots because of what they see in the movies," said Jim Wyatt, director of Kablamm, a company in Reading, England, that helped develop a toy robot called MechRC. "People have this expectation that robots will be able to see you and hear you."

Robots performing relatively simple tasks have been creeping into society for years, of course. They've been a fixture of assembly lines and laboratories, such as stationary mechanical arms piecing together cars and handling pharmaceuticals. Nowadays, industrial robots comprise a roughly $18 billion annual market, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

There are going to be a lot more of them, too, as they move into homes, hospitals, classrooms, and barracks. NextGen Research has estimated that the worldwide market for consumer-oriented service robots will hit $15 billion by 2015. (The market research firm plans to issue a report next month with updated figures.)

Many expect big growth in the number of home and entertainment robots being sold to consumers. From 2000 to now, something like 5 million such robots have been sold, "and we're not done with this decade yet," said Paolo Pirjanian, CEO of software developer Evolution Robotics. "In the next decade, I really think we could see another order of magnitude--5 million a year."

Keep in mind, though, that the housecleaning won't likely be done by a multitasking Rosie from "The Jetsons."

"You're not going to just have a robot in the home that does everything, but you're going to see many forms of robots, just as you don't have a single appliance in your home that washes your dishes, washes your clothes, and cooks your food," Tandy Trower, general manager of Microsoft's robotics group, told an audience at the RoboBusiness conference in Boston in April. "I think you're going to see a variety of robots that are designed for very specialty functions."

In a three-day special report, CNET News will take a look at the growing world of commercial and do-it-yourself robotics. We'll check in with the top robotics researchers in academia, as well as with hobbyists showing off their projects at this weekend's Maker Faire conference in Silicon Valley.

We'll describe an industry where the management of simple tasks and goals is just maybe paving the way for the grand visions of science fiction. But first, the floors need to be cleaned.

Article continues on at - http://news.cnet.com/Look-out,-Rover.-Robots-are-mans-new-best-friend/2009-11394_3-6249689.html?tag=nl.e703

E-Waste Buildup Will Plateau by 2015

May 6, 2009 8:44 AM PDT
Study: E-waste build-up will plateau by 2015
by Candace Lombardi (Credit: Pike Research)

The contribution to landfills from electronics will actually escalate until about 2015, but good news will follow, according to a report released Wednesday by Pike Research.
So-called e-waste will reach a global volume of 73 million metric tons by 2015, then begin to decline in the years following as recycling initiatives and practices catch up to the rate of the production of electronic goods, according to the report called "Electronics Recycling and E-Waste Issues."

The prediction is the firm's own forecast based on the premise that companies and governments worldwide will continue and expand current recycling programs and initiatives--a practice Pike Research said will likely continue now that public awareness of the effects of e-waste dumping have been brought to light.
The report found that the efforts of nonprofit groups and the media to expose the effects of e-waste dumping have influenced original equipment manufacturers and recyclers worldwide to make an effort to clean up their act.
Pike Research touted the following companies as responsible leaders when it comes to recycling e-waste: Cisco, Dell, HP, Motorola, Nokia, Research In Motion, Sprint Nextel, and Vodafone.

It blamed low consumer effort to recycle old stuff as part of the problem, as well the dumping of e-waste in developing countries.

"Consumers have few incentives to reuse or recycle used electronics equipment. In most countries, it is still too easy and relatively inexpensive to throw e-waste in the trash. An optimistic estimate of average recycle rates is about 15 percent. Inconsistent legislation, minimal controls on the recyclers, and little enforcement has also led to widespread and inappropriate dumping of e-waste in developing countries," the report said.
Candace Lombardi is a journalist who divides her time between the U.S. and the U.K. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgets, or industrial machines, she enjoys examining the moving parts that keep our world rotating. Email her at CandaceLombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET.