Biokleen Bac-Out (and Mrs. Meyer's Rhubarb)

Phew, I finally got around to buying a bottle of Biokleen's "Bac-Out", a liquid that promises to remove the stank and stains from a variety of places. I bought it to spray into my toilet, my trashcan, and to pour down my garbage disposal.

(Re: the last: lime and lemon rinds do the trick nicely, but I don't eat many citrus fruits so we don't have them in the house often. Just put 'em down the disposal and grind away.)

The bottle I bought didn't come with a spray nozzle, but thanks to the collection of empties I keep around for making my own cleaning products, I had a spare. I immediately tackled the toilet. I clean my toilet with a combination of a homemade tea-tree concoction, eco-friendly bleach, Mrs. Meyer's wipes, and Bio-Pac toilet tabs. My toilet is a huge stink problem, and has been since we moved in. It's a low-flow model, and I don't think the bowl gets rinsed enough between flushes. Or the toilet seat needs replacing. Either way, ew.

So I cleaned the bowl and then sprayed he Bac-Out all around the inside. Then I hit the other toilet, and then my garbage disposal. This stuff smells -amazing-. It's tangy lime bliss (I adore Biokleen's products for their scents alone.) Anyway, I am finding as I type this that I can't remember if the toilets still smell. This must be a good sign, but I'm going to go investigate for you, blog reader. WOAH. Ok, they smell. Hmph. I'm going to keep trying with the Bac-Out though, so I'll update this if it starts working on my toilet reek. In the meantime, this stuff is good for laundry and carpet stains as well.

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I got a chance to smell the Mrs. Meyer's Spring Rhubarb cleaning kit in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I think I'm sold. It's sweet and tangy, and the perfect kit for spring/summer, I'm thinking. Of course, I'm still using the gingerbread kit I bought during Christmas of 2006. At least you know it's a good value! Anyway, I think I'll have to snag one.

Method, Bi-o-kleen, etc.

Hello! My apologies for being absent so long, my fellow green-cleaning fans. School has been a bit crazy. I have made the time to eyeball Method's new products and packaging design though! (Check out their great new website!) They launched kids' products and more bathroom cleaning goodies (I want to try "Le Scrub!) I am curious to know if any of you have tried them, and if so, what you think! This is my favorite new page on their website. What droolworthy design!

I like that they have hand soap refills now (good for me, as I have glass soap dispensers I just pour soap into and that'll be cheaper and more eco-friendly). Alas, the magic self-foaming soap won't work in my dispenser. (Their having hand soap in "eucalyptus mint" now makes up for it... although their soap tends not to be super moisturizing. I'll sneak in here that I like EO's hand soap better than method's, and EO's comes in gallon jug refills!)

Right now I also want to try Biokleen's "Bac-Out" (scroll down on their site a bit). It can be sprayed on surfaces or poured. Apparently you can use it to take odors out of your garbage disposal, kitchen trash, and toilet bowl, among its myriad functions. I have odors in all three consistently despite my rabid cleaning, so I need some anti-stank remover. Biokleen's products have been very effective so far. I have hope for the Bac-Out!

When it's not as Green as it seems

I'm a Consumer Reports website subscriber, so when I saw this article investigating the "green claims" of household cleaning product manufacturers, I was intrigued.

I'm a bit surprised at Seventh Generation's having a questionable ingredient in its dishwasher gel. I've used that stuff happily in the past. I'm not sure what to make of the Biokleen laundry powder finding, considering the company's statement that a questionable ingredient was accidentally listed in their disclosure statement and is therefore presumably not used.

It's a pretty short article without a lot of information in it. I'm glad Earth Friendly Products got a nod, and I'm wondering now about Ecover. Consumer Reports is sending people to its green cleaning website (which has been on my links list for a while) for more information.

Bi-O-Kleen Automatic Dish Gel

I reviewed the Biokleen automatic dish powder back in August, and when I finished the package just a few days ago I was eager to try the dish gel.

Unfortunately, my experience with the gel hasn't been good so far. Since I began using it, many things are coming out of the dishwasher crusty. I do rinse my dishes before putting them in, but if they have the slightest bit of grime on them it seems to solidify when washed with this product. My dishes seem to have a film on them. I love the convenience of a liquid, but this is definitely one of the worst performing dishwasher soaps I've tried in a long time. I actually feel badly writing this, too, because I love all of my other biokleen products. This one doesn't seem to have any reviews on drugstore.com, so I'll have to nose around and see if other people were as disappointed. In the meantime, I feel obligated to use up this big jug, but yikes!
I'll update this review if things improve at any point.

Meanwhile, I am relegated to re-washing some dishes and utensils by hand.

Biokleen Automatic Dish Powder

Biokleen's "Automatic Dish Powder with Grapefruilt Seed & Orange Peel Extract" is my current favorite dishwasher soap, and it's on sale from drugstore.com right now (I sure wish I got kickbacks for these referrals ;) ) I love it because, as mentioned yesterday, I can get 64 dishwasher loads from it for generally around $5.50. (It's on sale often.) It also smells amazing, but if the citrus scent bothers you, it does come in a "free and clear" version.

My only annoyance with this product is that it does not include a scoop. I was lucky that I had a spare plastic scoop from another product that I could devote to the canister. It's not as though I'd want to leave my baking tablespoon sitting in the dishwasher powder all the time. The biokleen laundry powder includes a scoop, so I wish they'd port that feature to all of the other powdered products (I do understand it's more eco friendly not to include one, however.)

As mentioned yesterday, I don't do a particularly thorough job rinsing my dishes before putting them haphazardly into the dishwasher. I hate dishes, and I suppose I ask a lot from my dish washing soap. Biokleen delivers- I don't end up with streaks or spots, just clean and happy dishes. It works better than some toxic brands I've used in the past, and it definitely smells the best thanks to that grapefruit seed and orange peel extract. (The scent does not transfer to your dishes, fear not.)

I've run the gamut of powdered dishwasher soaps, so this is the first to impress me. (The Ecover cubes did too, but they're, um, cubes, not powder.) The canister is also a lot smaller than most boxes, so you'll have more room under your sink to store extra Casabella cute fish shaped biodegradable sponges.

Ecover Dishwasher Tablets

When I first saw these in the store, I thought "how inefficient." Individually wrapped dishwasher tablets? Silly. Somehow I decided to try them anyway, and I was really glad that I did. Like all of Ecover's products I've tried thus far, they do a fantastic job. My dishes come out of our crappy dishwasher sparkling clean. The individually wrapped plastic sleeves are recylable too (here in Chicago anyway. In Providence we could only recycle plastic 1-3 and these are a #4). I'm not the most thorough rinser of dishes, and often stuff the dishes into the washer rather haphazardly.

My only beef with these is that a box does only 25 dishwasher loads (25 tablets) for $5.79. The Biokleen dishwasher powder does 64 loads for $8.19 but it is usually on sale for less than the Ecover. Still, these are very convenient and effective

Biokleen Citrus Laundry Powder

I used to be really skeptical of laundry powders. They seemed old fashioned somehow. This was before I began using borax/white vinegar/lemon essential oil to improve the results I got on my white towels. I've been more friendly with laundry powder lately. For one, the package doesn't get sticky when I inevitably dribble soap down its side. For another, it seems to really work. I love Biokleen's products in general. They all smell faintly grapefruity and fresh. The citrus laundry powder is no different. I feel like it really gets my laundry clean, and the wonderful scent doesn't carry over into the final product (which is a positive, because my husband doesn't like scented things as much as I do.)

The box comes with a handy little scoop. For my tiny apartment-sized top-loading washer it takes 3/4 of a scoop per large load. (It's fine for HE washers too.) It seems so far as though the box'll last a good long time too.

If you notice a lot of biokleen reviews here in the near future, it's because I'm on a biokleen kick. Not only can I get them at Whole Foods, my local natural foods store (Bonne Sante), and drugstore.com, but they rock.