Ecover - Striving to bring green living to you

It certainly seems that green living and Ecover go hand in hand but on more levels than one may think. The motto states 'Powered by Nature' and by working from production to then bringing their eco-friendly products home to you they hope to reinvent virtually every aspect. There are a growing number of options in the burgeoning market for more natural household cleaners and products, yet at times it seems that the terms 'eco-friendly' or 'all natural' get thrown around and stuck on labels as more of a ploy to boost sales. There are not strict regulations on much of what gets posted on the packaging of these items and so if companies don't feel inclined to foreclose the specific ingredients in their solutions they don't necessarily have to. This has led to false claims and confusion as to what is actually better for the environment or biodegradable. Ecover is different in that they have posted on each and every package the active ingredients and online you can further find the more extensive run down.

Yet this is just the end result of an entire process that literally goes full circle. Started in 1980 in Belgium,
Ecover was ahead of the eco-revolution so to speak; today sustainability and global warming may be hot ticket issues
but that was not the case only a few decades ago. As the company expanded, and is now spanning 26 countries
worldwide, it has still striven to remain at the forefront of the industry as well as green innovations; case in point is
their newly patented Eco-Surfactants that are being introduced into their lines. Surfactants are what the majority of
standard brand household cleaners are formulated around, "These petrochemicals do not biodegrade completely and leave behind metabolites. Ecover has always replaced these petrochemical ingredients with plant-based alternatives, but until now have had to utilize the same ingredient manufacturing process. Now all this can change," explains Kipling Wagner working in the marketing sector for Ecover, "Ecover's unique Eco-Surfactant is produced from a 'sophorolipid'...which are kinder to the skin, they are also kinder to the environment. Due to the nature of the production process they are made using low levels of energy." Not only are these sophorolipids all natural compounds, but the energy conservation that Wagner is referencing is that compared to conventional production processes that require temperatures of 100 degree C and 2-5 bar pressure they only need 30 degree C and an ambient atmospheric pressure.

Dramatically cutting back the amount of energy consumption to actually create these household cleaners is one thing,
but the company takes it one step further in how they distribute. Because they are able to grow their own ingredients
instead of having them transported, "one ton of Eco-Surfactant will release just 18kg of CO2, as opposed to the 246kg
of CO2 needed to chemically produce an alternative surfactant from coconut oil and sugar," notes Wagner. Transportation is one of the leading contributors of such greenhouse gases and across the globe countries and business alike are being urged to put in place caps on just how much carbon gas they are allowed to release. This method used by Ecover has already taken much of the waste out of the equation.

Ecover does have a leg up on their competitors for the sheer reason that they were the first to open up an ecological
factory that allows them to create and manufacture all in home. This earned them the Most Sustainable Business Award in Flanders, Belgium but it also grants them creative liberty to birth such inventions as the Eco-Surfactants. The facility itself is something that has attracted green living tourists from all corners of the glove as it is in essence a garden for growing sedum, a kind of succulent. "The roof, while very pretty, has a more functional value. It acts as insulation, negating almost entirely the need for heating in winter or cooling in summer." On the inside there are also strategically placed skylights that reduce the amount of artificial lighting needed for the workers and general
practice.

So we have seen how Ecover differentiates itself in terms of manufacturing, so now moving on then to the cleaners
themselves. You will find everything you could need around the home from dish liquid and laundry detergent to shower gel and car wax, but contrary to some preconceived notions they, "are competitively priced. In one Consumer Reports comparison, our Dish Liquid ranked better than Dawn for efficiency AND price per use." This then answers the question of if they do in fact get the job done, "we couldn't stay in business if our products didn't actually work as well or better than our competitors."

Rutherford uses them herself in her own home, but the roots to her green living started long before joining the Ecover
company in 2003. "I started a recycling program in my very small primary school. The program was very successful,
but the school was so small it meant I had to take the recycling home with me each week. It was a nice boost to my
allowance!" she recounts. And today while the stain remover and dish liquids, "pack a powerful punch," they have
demonstrated just how eco-friendly they are in her own gray-watering routines. The roses surrounding her home are
given the same water used to wash her dishes and along the way a stray tomato seed left over from dinner must have
made its way to the garden because she, "noticed this random tomato plant sprouting up out of the center of these
roses. There must have been a seed in our waste water. Eventually, the plant grew so big and strong, it started to muscle out the roses...it just goes to show, if you're using products that quickly and completely biodegrade, you can
ideally reintegrate them safely into your environment."

And so it does seem that Ecover has taken us full circle, from start to finish. Green living is a choice; it is an accumulation of our everyday habits; bringing our own reusable bags to the market, turning the lights off when we leave the room, recycling everything we can, and seeking out more energy efficient appliances. The path to saving our environment starts at home, and for that reason what we use to clean and take care of it should work to give back to the planet one clean dish, shiny floor, and scrubbed bathroom at a time. You can find Ecover household cleaning
products at Whole Food Markets, Safeways, Albertsons, Ralphs, Henry's, Earth Fare, and other select markets. You can also order them online through Amazon or by going to the Ecover website to find a location nearest you. Passing on the motivation to see our planet greener and preserve it for the future is something we need to set an example for the next generations, for as Wagner professes, "as a mother to be, I plan to...give her the solid foundation of a
responsible lifestyle [which] will carry over into other choices she makes in life."

A very special thanks to Kipling Wagner for taking the time to graciously answer all of the questions from one nosy
Ethical Consumer writer and additionally to Ruhi Shamim for suggesting the topic of this posting; she is the first
Justmeans reader to have made it to the 'Eco-Shout Out' feature post. If you have your own ideas or want a particular
issue address...just drop me a line and you may find yourself credited in the following weeks!