What we actually use, and why

Why does the word "natural" not mean anything on a label?

Because in Canada it is not defined. There is no legal standard a cleaning product must meet before calling itself natural, green, eco-friendly or non-toxic. Any company can print any of those words on any bottle.

It goes further than that. Canadian cleaning labels are not required to list their ingredients. Under the Consumer Chemicals and Containers Regulations, only hazardous ingredients present at 1% or more have to appear, and only inside the first-aid statement. So a product can be almost entirely undisclosed and entirely legal.

The Competition Bureau finalised guidance on environmental claims in June 2025, and its plain-English rule is the one we work to: when in doubt, spell it out. That is the entire reason this page exists. We would rather hand you a list than an adjective.

What is the difference between cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting?

This is the distinction almost all natural-cleaning advice online gets wrong, and getting it right is the most useful thing we can tell you.

The part almost nobody knows: in Canada a product is regulated by the claim it makes and the use it is sold for, not by its chemistry. The same hydrogen peroxide is a cleaner without a DIN and a disinfectant with one. Which is why we can say honestly that vinegar is an excellent descaler and a poor disinfectant, without either overselling natural cleaning or conceding the argument.

And for most homes, most of the time, cleaning is what is actually needed. Health Canada tells Canadians they do not need antibacterial soap for everyday hand hygiene, and it tells them not to reach for bleach on household mould.

Where does natural cleaning honestly fail?

Here, and we would rather say it than have you find out later. In a 2000 study by Rutala and colleagues, vinegar achieved under a 3-log microbial reduction (roughly 1-log at thirty seconds) and baking soda under 3-log against everything tested, where registered disinfectants achieved 5.6 to 8.2-log. Canada's National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, hosted at the BCCDC, concluded that vinegar, lemon and baking soda have "limited" appropriateness for disinfection.

So we do not claim otherwise. Specifically:

• Vinegar does not disinfect. It is a fine descaler and a poor germicide, and it permanently etches marble, limestone and many stone counters.
• Vinegar plus baking soda is not a powerful cleaner. An acid plus a base gives you sodium acetate, water and carbon dioxide. Once the fizzing stops you are wiping with salt water.
• Natural does not mean safe. Undiluted essential oils burn skin, and as little as 5 mL of eucalyptus oil can severely poison a small child.
• Heavy mould, deep scale and grout whitening are jobs we decline rather than jobs we do badly. See what we do not do.

Where disinfection is genuinely warranted, we disinfect, with a product carrying a DIN, and we tell you which one.

What does the evidence actually say about conventional cleaning products?

Stronger than most people expect, and weaker than the internet claims. Two studies carry most of the weight.

Svanes and colleagues (2018) followed 6,235 people in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey for more than twenty years with repeated lung-function testing. Women who cleaned at home lost FEV1 about 3.6 mL per year faster than women who did not clean; women working as occupational cleaners lost FEV1 about 3.9 mL per year faster and FVC about 7.1 mL per year faster. The authors themselves compared the decline in occupational cleaners to smoking somewhat under 20 pack-years.

That comparison belongs to the authors, not to us, and it describes twenty years of professional cleaning rather than someone wiping a counter. It is an observational cohort, so it shows association rather than proof of cause. No association was found in men, which the authors attribute partly to how few male professional cleaners the cohort contained. We think it is worth knowing anyway, particularly if cleaning is your job.

Zock and colleagues (2007) followed 3,503 people who were asthma-free at baseline and did their own household cleaning. Weekly use of cleaning sprays was associated with asthma at a relative risk of 1.49 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.99). Using sprays four or more days a week was associated with physician-diagnosed asthma at a relative risk of 2.11 (95% CI 1.15 to 3.89), with a dose-response pattern. The risk concentrated in glass cleaners, furniture sprays and air fresheners.

The practical lesson from that study is small and free, and you can use it whoever cleans your house: spray the cloth, not the air. Most of the exposure is inhaled aerosol, not surface contact.

Does mechanical cleaning really work without chemicals?

Largely, yes, and the best evidence for it comes from hospitals. Rutala and colleagues (2007) found a microfibre system with plain detergent removed 95% of surface microbes, against 68% for a conventional cotton string mop. Adding a disinfectant to the microfibre changed nothing at all (95% versus 95%), while adding it to cotton rescued it (68% up to 95%).

Read that carefully, because it is widely misquoted. The microfibre study used a detergent, not water alone, and the number is 95%, not the 99% that circulates online. What it shows is that good mechanical cleaning does most of the work that people assume a disinfectant is doing. That is the practical foundation of how we clean.

One honest caveat: microfibre sheds microplastics in the wash. Cotton and wool shed at broadly comparable rates by mass, so this is not a reason to avoid microfibre, but it is not nothing either.

Why is fragrance the first thing to go?

Because "fragrance" is one word on a label that can legally stand in for dozens of undisclosed ingredients, and because a meaningful share of people react to it. Steinemann's survey work found 15.7% of adults reported symptoms from entering a room cleaned with scented products, rising to 57.8% among people with asthma. Health Canada's own advice is to minimise the use of scented products including plug-in and aerosol deodorizers.

A cleaned room has no smell. The pine, lemon and "fresh linen" that people read as cleanliness are added afterwards, and they are usually the most reactive thing in the bottle. So fragrance-free is our default rather than an upgrade. If you want a scent, tell us and we will discuss what is safe for who lives there.

Which certifications actually mean something?

Four are worth looking for on a label, and a company that cannot name one is telling you something:

• UL ECOLOGO: multi-attribute lifecycle certification, third-party audited. The strongest general mark in Canada.
• Green Seal GS-37: the institutional and janitorial cleaning-product standard, which is the one that matters for commercial work.
• EPA Safer Choice: US programme, ingredient-by-ingredient screening against safer-chemical criteria.
• EWG Verified: strictest on ingredient disclosure, though EWG is an advocacy organisation rather than a regulator and we say so.

So what is on the actual list?

This is the summary. The full version, with product names, manufacturers and safety data sheets, is what we email before a first visit.