Just what makes green cleaning products environmentally friendly or eco-clean anyway? There are several things.

First, they should not contain harmful chemicals like phosphates, borates or nitrates; you know, the things that kill the plants and wildlife exposed to the runoff.

Then, ALL of the ingredients that they DO contain should be truly biodegradable, breaking down easily and quickly into natural compounds like carbon dioxide and water (some so-called green cleaners have some such ingredients, but others that take years and years to biodegrade).

In addition, the greenest of the green cleaning products are concentrated, meaning you add your own water to a small amount of the concentrate. This can keep hundreds of pounds of packaging waste from filling the landfills. It also drastically reduces the amount of weight being shipped cross-country, thereby reducing pollution related to the movement of freight.

And finally, for a truly green and eco-friendly cleaning product, it should be from a company that is itself green, a company that has respect for the health of its customers and the health of the environment as one of its underlying principles. Without that, green is just a marketing color!