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Cleaning products with an eco-label advertise with numbers such as “98% degradable in 28 days”. This information is based on laboratory tests.
A woman is amazed at the information on the eco-cream cleaner: It says that this cleaning product is 98 percent biodegradable within 28 days, and she asks herself: “What does that actually mean? And where are the remaining two percent?”.
Anke Schäfer is a biologist and media spokesperson for the Swiss Center for Applied Ecotoxicology. She explains in the SRF consumer magazine “Espresso” that this information comes from a standardized laboratory test that all cleaning products or shower gels must undergo by law. “You mix the cleaner with water and sewage sludge and put the whole thing in a flask. Then this mixture is shaken for 28 days and at the end you measure how much carbon you can still detect.
Because cleaning agents consist of organic substances that contain carbon. These are harmful to the environment.
Difference between laboratory test and real sewage treatment plant
In standardized laboratory tests, eco-labels perform very well, with a biodegradability of 98 or even 100 percent. The remaining two percent in the specific case of the cream cleanser can still be measured as carbon. Anke Schäfer explains that in the real sewage treatment plant, this residue is either “degraded, or it is absorbed into the sewage sludge, or it remains in the water.”
The legal minimum for the biodegradability of all cleaning products or shower gels is 60 percent or 70 percent; there are two different test methods. And so the value of 98 percent is a very good one, the expert believes.
The fact that eco-labels write their top values on the packaging is probably also part of their sales strategy, because there is no obligation to make the information transparent.
Tip: Only use as much cleaning agent as necessary
Whether with an eco-label or without: always dose cleaning products so that you only need as much as necessary. This means that as few harmful substances as possible end up in the environment.