We get asked about our cleaning products a lot. Clients on the Sunshine Coast care about what goes onto their surfaces, down their drains, and into the air their families breathe. Fair enough — we care about the same things.

Over the years, we’ve tested dozens of eco-friendly cleaning products. Some performed brilliantly. Others had impressive labels and disappointing results. What follows is our honest assessment of what we actually use every day and why.

What “Eco-Friendly” Actually Means

Before getting into specific products, it’s worth noting that “eco-friendly” isn’t a regulated term in Australia. Any manufacturer can slap it on a label. What matters are the ingredients, the certifications, and the actual environmental profile.

We look for products that are biodegradable, free from phosphates and chlorine, not tested on animals, and ideally certified by a recognised body like Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) or the Australian Certified Organic standard.

Fragrance is another consideration. Many “natural” products use essential oils that can still trigger sensitivities. We prefer unscented or lightly scented products, especially for clients who’ve specifically requested low-chemical cleaning.

Our All-Purpose Cleaner

We use Koala Eco’s multi-purpose kitchen cleaner as our daily all-purpose option. It’s Australian-made, uses Australian essential oils, and the active ingredient is a plant-based surfactant that handles most light to moderate cleaning tasks.

It won’t cut through heavy grease on its own — we use a separate degreaser for that. But for benchtops, tables, shelves, and general surface wiping, it does a solid job. It smells pleasant without being overpowering, and it doesn’t leave streaks on most surfaces.

The main downside is cost. It’s significantly more expensive per litre than conventional all-purpose cleaners. For a professional cleaning company going through litres per week, that adds up. We factor it into our pricing because we believe it’s the right approach.

Bathroom Cleaning

Bathrooms are where eco-friendly products face their toughest test. Soap scum, mould, limescale — these are stubborn problems that conventional products attack with harsh chemicals.

We use Ecover’s bathroom cleaner for routine bathroom work. It handles soap scum reasonably well and leaves surfaces clean without the bleach fumes. For limescale, we supplement with diluted citric acid, which is effective and environmentally benign.

For mould, we’ve settled on a hydrogen peroxide-based solution. It’s less toxic than bleach, breaks down into water and oxygen, and works well on surface mould. It won’t prevent mould regrowth — nothing will in a humid Sunshine Coast bathroom without proper ventilation — but it’s effective as a treatment.

One thing we’ve learned is that eco-friendly bathroom products generally need more contact time than conventional ones. Where a bleach-based cleaner might work in seconds, our products need 5-10 minutes to do the same job. We account for that in our cleaning routines.

Floor Cleaning

For hard floors, we use a diluted vinegar-water solution for routine mopping. It’s about as simple and eco-friendly as you can get, and it works well on tiles, vinyl, and sealed timber.

For deeper floor cleaning, we use an Australian-made product called Abode Floor Cleaner. It’s plant-based, low-sudsing, and leaves floors genuinely clean without residue. It works well in our steam mop system too.

One product we specifically avoid for floors is anything containing sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) in high concentrations. It foams excessively, leaves residue, and attracts dirt back to the surface faster.

Glass Cleaning

This might surprise people, but our go-to glass cleaner is just water with a splash of vinegar applied with a microfibre cloth. We’ve tested numerous eco-friendly glass cleaning products, and none outperformed this simple combination on windows and mirrors.

The key is the cloth quality. Cheap microfibre leaves lint. Good quality, tightly woven microfibre cloths produce streak-free results with minimal product.

Laundry Products

For clients who request laundry services, we use Earth Choice laundry liquid. It’s widely available, reasonably priced for an eco option, and performs well in both hot and cold washes. It’s also greywater safe, which matters for Sunshine Coast homes with greywater systems.

What About DIY Products?

Bicarb soda, vinegar, and castile soap can handle a lot of household cleaning. We use bicarb as an abrasive for stovetops and sinks. Vinegar-based solutions handle glass and floors. These aren’t just budget alternatives — they genuinely work well for many tasks.

Where DIY falls short is disinfection. Vinegar has some antimicrobial properties, but it’s not a registered disinfectant. For surfaces where actual disinfection matters — after illness, in food prep areas — you need a product that’s been tested and proven to meet TGA standards.

The Role of Technology

The cleaning product industry is evolving. There’s interesting work happening in enzymatic cleaners and probiotic cleaning products that use beneficial bacteria to break down organic matter. Some of the formulation work now involves AI-driven analysis of ingredient interactions to develop more effective plant-based surfactants. An AI consultancy we’ve spoken to suggested that this kind of computational chemistry work is accelerating, with an AI consultancy noting that formulation optimisation is one of the quieter but genuinely useful applications of machine learning in consumer products.

We’ve started testing a probiotic bathroom cleaner that claims to establish a beneficial bacterial film on surfaces, outcompeting mould and mildew. The results so far are interesting but inconclusive. We’ll report back once we’ve used it long enough to form a proper opinion.

Our Recommendations for Home Use

If you want to switch to eco-friendly cleaning products at home, start with these:

• A good plant-based all-purpose cleaner for daily wiping
• White vinegar for glass and floors
• Bicarb soda for scrubbing
• Hydrogen peroxide for mould treatment
• A GECA-certified bathroom product for weekly deep cleans

You don’t need to replace everything at once. Finish what you have and swap in eco alternatives as you go. The environmental benefit of throwing away half-used bottles is questionable anyway.

The main thing is to read labels critically, be patient with longer contact times, and accept that no single eco product matches the brute force of industrial chemicals. What you get instead is a healthier home environment, safer waterways, and products you don’t need to worry about around kids and pets.

That’s a trade we’re happy to make, and most of our clients agree.