Green Product Review: Seventh Generation Emerald Cypress & Fir Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Product: Emerald Cypress & Fir Toilet Bowl Cleaner from Seventh Generation

Uses: As you might guess this is for cleaning your toilet but cleans and deodorizes without the harsh fumes, harmful chemicals, or dyes that are found in most other toilet cleaners.

Cost:$4.99 for 32 oz. at the Seventh Generation shop, but I’ve seen it for less at my local grocery store. It’s also a product that goes on sale.

Ingredients: Aqua (water), lactic acid (plant-derived demineralizer), polyglucose, coceth-7, coceth-4 and deceth-5 (plant-derived cleaning agents), xanthan gum (natural thickener), peg-15 cocomonium chloride (plant-containing cleaning agent)*, essential oils and botanical extracts** (citrus aurantifolia (lime), abies balsamea (balsam fir), calilistris columellaris (emerald cypress).

Eco-perks:

What I think:

Of all the Seventh Generation cleaning products I’ve tried, this would likely be the one I’d buy again (before others). I LOVE the scent, which is clean and fresh, but not chemical or perfume-like. The bottle is well made with a small squeeze spout that gets the cleaner under the toilet rim easily.

I cleaned two toilets in my test run; one with this toilet cleaner, and one with the homemade cleaner I usually use – baking soda and lemon juice. They both smelled fresh and clean after cleaning but different of course. I thought the Seventh Generation toilet looked shiner and cleaner though, and I didn’t have to scrub as much. This cleaner works crazy fast. Plus, I thought the Seventh Generation cleaned toilet stayed clean longer and no baking soda spilled on the floor (which usually happens).

Lastly a 32 oz. bottle should last you a good long while.

Were there any negatives?

• As with any store bought green cleaner, the biggest downside is packaging. If you make your own cleaners at home you lose this negative. I think Seventh Generation should sell a bulk size or a concentrated mix-your-own size to cut down on packaging.
• The new in-depth labels rock because they inform you about everything having to do with this product, however, the new labels also rip off too easily and what’s left behind is kind of sticky, so for the rest of the time that you use the product you’ve got a sticky bottle to hold.
• More expensive than homemade green cleaners.

Overall score:

Four out of five happy little trees! I almost never ever buy store bought green cleaners, but I’m pretty sure I’d buy this one again because I think it worked better than my homemade cleaner. However, the bottle is still an issue for me. Even though it’s recyclable, it’s still a drain on resources plus I do really wish they made a bigger bottle.

That said, this is one of the very few store bought green cleaners I’ve tried that I’d highly recommend. Learn more: Emerald Cypress & Fir Toilet Bowl Cleaner.