Glossary

We are striving to deliver products to meet the following criteria and will be 100% transparent on whether each of our products meet these. Each product page includes a listing of relevant criteria badges.

Single use plastics and containers need to be a thing of the past. It is now more obvious than ever the impact they are having. To name a few, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is growing day by day (it is currently three times the size of France) and growing evidence showing that plastic has detrimental effects on our health when mixing with food items. These are just some of the reasons we want to ensure we offer as many products as possible which don’t contain plastic. 

While the majority of our products are completely plastic free, some of our products do contain plastic, and where this is the case it is kept to a minimum. These include refillable products where accessories such as pump heads have been designed to be used over and over again, ideally a lifetime. We are however working on reducing this, with the aim to be 100% plastic free.

We’ve also found brands who’ve taken the concept further and are using recycled plastic or as some call it "ocean bound plastic" as their material, therefore reusing a disposed material.

It’s not just our products we are being strict on, but packaging. We offer a 100% plastic free packaging. See packaging further below.

When we thought about the concept for Eco-Homemaker it was important to us to support and represent British artisans, craftsmen, designers and manufacturers. Not only do we have such an incredible selection of high quality suppliers, they are on our doorstep. Hopefully you agree with us that we’ve made a good start, but our search is continuously ongoing and our aim is to grow this criteria.

Nevertheless, it has been very difficult if not impossible to find certain products, of the standard we require (either eco credentials or effectiveness), to be manufactured here in the UK due to availability of materials and/or ability to keep the end cost to the consumer reasonable, therefore our search has had to extend to Europe, and even China. 

Where products are not Made in the UK, we’ve labelled these within ‘Product Details’ on the relevant product page.

Definition: no waste material is produced.

Let’s face it in modern society this is often extremely difficult if not impossible to achieve in our households. We believe small steps are the way for this one as a consumer! We have taken the view of offering products which are either reusable, or can be refilled over and over again, or can be disposed of sensibly such as being home composted.

This is a particularly popular buzzword but what does it actually mean? Let’s start with what is considered to contain toxins or be toxic. According to the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) if a product is toxic it can cause injury or illness to a human being when it’s ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin. 

Despite this definition there isn’t actually any regulation for companies needing to be labeled as non-toxic or toxic free. 

We’re continuously fighting the battle of working out what is organic vs toxin free vs natural etc. when we do research for products. We’ve taken the view that we should be doing our own research and have looked up the ingredients ourselves before marking them as toxin-free.

For example, where our products contain cotton, we have ensured that they are always organic cotton.

Firstly no certification or standard is perfect or all-inclusive. 

Cruelty free means not tested on animals, however labels aren’t regulated and there’s no legal definition. Another head scratcher you’d say!?

Where we at Eco-Homemaker have labelled a product as Cruelty free, our suppliers have guaranteed that they haven’t tested on animals nor included any animal derived ingredients. 

Why is cruelty free important?

Animal testing refers to the practice of performing unnatural and often painful experiments on animals held in captivity in stressful laboratories. Millions of dogs, cats, monkeys, mice, rats and other animals are being used globally in research and testing of products. 

While the number of animals being tested on in the UK decreased from 3.4 million in 2019 to 2.88 million in 2020 (according to the UK Home Office), there is clearly a lot of work to do. For us, there are so many excellent cruelty free product alternatives why wouldn't you consider these?

Firstly no certification or standard is perfect or all-inclusive. 

100% vegan = does not contain animal derived ingredients or animal by products, but this label again isn’t regulated nor has a legal definition.

The majority of our products with the vegan badge have been certified by ‘The Vegan Society’ meaning the manufacturer has signed a written statement it is indeed vegan.

OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100

STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® is one of the world's best-known labels for textiles tested for harmful substances. It stands for customer confidence and high product safety. 

If a textile article carries the STANDARD 100 label, you can be certain that every component of this article, i.e. every thread, button and other accessories, has been tested for harmful substances and that the article therefore is harmless for human health. The test is conducted by independent OEKO-TEX® partner institutes on the basis of extensive OEKO-TEX® criteria. In the test they take into account numerous regulated and non-regulated substances, which may be harmful to human health. In many cases the limit values for the STANDARD 100 go beyond national and international requirements. The criteria catalog is updated at least once a year and expanded with new scientific knowledge or statutory requirements. It is not easy for manufacturers and customers to keep an overview of the legal situation concerning harmful substances every day. Experts from the OEKO-TEX® institutes do this for you.

GOTS

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) has a clearly defined set of criteria and is transparent. GOTS is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibres, including ecological and social criteria, backed up by independent certification of the entire textile supply chain. GOTS certified final products may include fibre products, yarns, fabrics, clothes, home textiles, mattresses, personal hygiene products, as well as food contact textiles and more.

Having one common standard means textile processors and manufacturers can export their fabrics and garments with one organic certification that is accepted in all major markets. This transparency also gives consumers the power to choose truly organic products sourced from green supply chains.

PACKAGING

We guarantee 100% plastic free packaging, which is 100% recyclable and biodegradable.

Our marketing inserts which come with each order are made from 100% recycled FSC certified paper, which can be recycled, and are printed with compostable vegan ink.

Our primary courier is Royal Mail, as recommended by the Ethical Consumer magazine.