Tree Hugging Family - Living Green

Green Product Review: Biokleen All Temperature Laundry Liquid

by Jennifer on April 28th, 2008

Product: Biokleen All Temperature Laundry Liquid from Biokleen

Cost: Around $9 for 64 oz which equals 64 plus regular loads or 128 HE (high efficiency) loads.

Basics according to the Biokleen:

• “Our Laundry liquid removes the toughest dirt, grease, stains and odors, yet is gentle enough for cloth diapers, delicate fabrics and hand washables. Rinses clean without leaving residue on clothes that can irritate skin or ruin fabrics.
• Naturally controls stains and odors.
• Makes a great pre-treat for stains.
• All of the Biokleen liquid and powder laundry products perform well in many different water conditions, including hard water.”

Website:

I’m very disappointed in the Biokleen website.

First off, their site map page is busted. Click on “Company Overview” or “Our Promise” and nothing? Also, it’s hard to find their ingredient info, in fact, I never found it, I had to pull ingredients from the actual bottle of detergent, which did not thrill me. I shouldn’t have to work so hard to look up ingredients - they should tell me about them at the site.

They also have zero pages dedicated to recycling or packaging; which in my opinion is shoddy for an eco-friendly company.

Earth-friendly qualities:

• Phosphate & Chlorine Free
• Contains only surfactants and conditioners made from coconut and or corn, orange peel, grapefruit seed and pulp, linear sulfonate, filtered water.
• Vegan.
• No artificial fragrance, colors, or preservatives.
• No negative effects on rivers, streams, plants, or wildlife.
• Kind to those with chemical sensitivities and allergies
• Rapidly biodegrades and Ozone safe.
• Not tested on animals
• Awarded top environmental honor
• Bottle is recyclable although lid is not - this might be one good reason to buy dry detergent (no lid). Bottle does remind you to recycle.

Does not contain: Phosphate, chlorine, ammonia, petroleum solvents, alcohol, butyl, glycol ether, SLS, or SLES, EDTA, DEA, no SARA Title III, CA 65, or EPA priority pollutants, no material listed by the ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists) as hazardous.

Whew, that’s a lot NOT in there. Now, if Biokleen got their act together and created a user friendly website, one that actually explained what all this bad stuff is, the common consumer might learn something. Still, it is a very eco-friendly detergent, one of the best on the market, I’d say.

Scent: Grapefruit Seed & Orange Peel Extract. Not strong enough for scent loving me. I would have liked a stronger grapefruit scent. However, perfect for those of you not into strong scents. The smell was light and not sticky sweet at all. The smell did not fill up my laundry room. Plus once you wash, the smell is pretty much gone. All you smell is soapy clean laundry. They also offer a clear and clean unscented version.

Test run: I washed about six loads on cold. It comes with a little measure scoop. I used the recommended amount of detergent. The detergent is pretty thick and creates a lot of bubbles right away - so thinking it was pretty thick, I ran one load on half the recommended amount and the load still came out clean. Each load came out perfectly clean and smelling nice.

However, none of our clothes were that dirty. We ran around at the park and our jeans got muddy, but mud, in my experience comes out even if you just water wash, so… How will this detergent clean up a bad clothing mess? I had no clue. Then I struck test wash gold.

BLOOD: Yup blood, no, not Cedar’s, mine. I was all, “Oh, I can cut apples and celery super quick” um no. Sliced my finger right open. I washed my finger, thought it had stopped bleeding, and Cedar called me to look at a picture. I went to see Cedar and five minutes later, looked down, and guess what? I should have put a bandage on. Lots o’ bright red blood on my very light green colored thrift store skirt. Sure I only paid $5 but I like this skirt. Was it ruined?

Steps I took: Because I’m not a laundry genius, I didn’t pre-soak, because I wasn’t sure if I should. I didn’t bother looking it up because frankly, I’m busy. I don’t own any sort of stain remover, so I threw my skirt in the clothing pile and figured I’d deal with it later. Five hours later, I start thinking, maybe I should have washed it right away. Doh! I tried to remember if you’re supposed to wash blood out in cold or warm? I had no idea, so I toss it into a cold wash with a bunch of other stuff. I used the recommended amount of detergent.

The results:

No blood! None. Yeah, I’m not the best photographer, but obviously, there’s no blood on this skirt. It all came out. As you can see this is a very light colored skirt. I was very happy. BTW later I read the instructions on the package and it says to pre-treat tough stains.
Total happy tree points:

Four out of five! I’d buy Biokleen detergent again, even though it could smell stronger. I would likely buy powder to eliminate the non-recyclable lid issue. They lose an entire point for having a hard to manage website that does not discuss ingredients, and for not discussing recycling on the site.

Don’t take my word for it:

Grist did a review on Biokleen Free & Clear Laundry Liquid and they seemed to like it, although, it didn’t work as well for them (it didn’t get out blueberries and red wine - but neither did the other detergents they reviewed). I’m surprised since it got out blood. Read the Grist review along with five others.

[all photos via Jennifer Chait’s laundry adventure series]

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