Read Martin Cooper's column for the month of April

I happened to look at the back of a well-known brand of washing up liquid, which states on the label ‘harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects’.

As a product that we can only use in water, this sounds bizarre!

On further exploration, a number of other well-known brands of laundry liquid and capsules have the same message.

Martin Cooper owns the Refill Shop of Ikigai (Image: Martin Cooper)

There’s been a lot in the media recently about the state of our rivers and the pollution that goes into them by the water companies who are trusted to process our waste water.

We now know our water has not always been treated as well as we would expect, with hundreds of thousands of gallons of untreated water going into our waterways, causing pollution and killing the wildlife in our rivers and streams.

Given washing-up liquid ends up down our drains and eventually into our waterways, it should be obvious these products shouldn’t contain ingredients that could harm the environment.

So why would the products we use for cleaning in water have chemicals in them that would mean not be suitable for using in water?

According to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a significant number of household products are marketed as ‘green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’, including up to 91 per cent of all dishwashing items and 100 per cent of toilet cleaning products – but how many of them actually are?

Words such as ‘sustainable’, ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘plant based’ give the impression of being good for the environment, but we know that these claims are not always as they seem. 

Navigating this complicated landscape is not easy, but there are a few things we can do.

When purchasing cleaning products, check the small print on the back of the packaging for harmful warnings and avoid them by choosing products that are biodegradable and don’t contain harmful chemicals.