Ecover- are they really green

skelly01

can anyone advise on the ethics and how green Ecover are? I am sure I had read somewhere that on the surface the appear ethical and green but they are not really very good.
Are the owned by a huge conglomorate? I had also read somewhere that they are testing on animals.
can anyone advise?

Noctula

Hiya, I don't know about being owned by a huge conglomerate but they do test on Daphnia (aka water fleas) which are animals in the typical sense but not in terms of animal testing standards. Depends whether your concern is purely relating to testing on the cute fluffies or whether your worries cover all non-human animals!! Personally I think it's better they know for definite that the cleaning stuff doesn't harm the wider environment by testing on a few daphnia. I know plenty of people who'd deliberately squash a wasp or spider without second thoughts, so at least this has a positive benefit.

imajica

I can't remember the details of where they gained/lost points but I know last year Ecover washing up liquid scored 10.5 out of 20 in Ethical Consumer Magazine. They give scores not only on the contents of the product but also on the company and any associated companies, any political donations they may give, use of animal testing, use of nuclear power, use of child labour, environmental reporting (just how open they are with info on their pollution etc), sourcing from oppressive regimes and probably some other catagories i've forgotten. Worth noting that the highest rated was Bio-D with 16.5 and the worst score was Fairy with an whopping 0!

Obviously this means if you're just looking for environmentally friendly products but don't mind if they are made by 10 year olds and tested on bunny rabbits it confuses the issue

welf_man

This is one of the problems with Ecover. Down to individual choice, I guess!

Mel.

vegankris

skelly01 wrote: »

I had also read somewhere that they are testing on animals.
can anyone advise?

Here is the Vegan Society's and Ecover's joint statement re the animal testing issue- http://www.vegansociety.com/newsroom/index.php?/archives/17-Ecover.html
HTH

Fire_Fox

Ethiscores can be found here:
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/FreeBuyersGuides.aspx

gibby

I wouldnt say they are green at all

the stuff involves alot of road miles and it never worked that well for us - usually meaning we had to use alot of it or do a 2nd wash

there are better brands out there such as Bio D or Eco Leaf which work much better and better value for money too

I know many of us stopped using the stuff when we found out there were testing on animals

G

TheFrugaliser

They are much more ethical than say Fairy or any of the really unethical brands, but they are not ethical. They are owned by a pretty terrible mother company.

Have you ever tried soapnuts?

skelly01

Now looking elsewhere for my cleaning stuff. After reading up on Ecover they really are not that green or ethical. For washing powder I am using simplywashing as the score fairly well in terms of ethics and environment.

dawkins

I'd second use of Simplywashing - I've found it works really well, much better than Ecover.

Taadaa

Can i just point out that the water fleas are present in the water system, and they can't find a way around it. It is unfortunate for those that feel strongly about this issue, but I personally don't think that warrants an accusation of animal testing.

Having said that I am switching to soap nuts for clothes cleaning, used them before and they are fine, and it provides an income in a developing country.