Public Goods Bathroom Cleaner Review 2020 | Plant-based, Refillable Bathroom Cleaner
The Top Line:
One more positive reason to pay for the Public Goods membership: the bathroom cleaner is a BUY. It works really well, has zero toxic chemicals (no SLS, ammonia, synthetic fragrance) and is really affordable when looking at refills in the future. Our only beef is with the excess (extra care?) packaging offered on the initial purchase (see pictures in the gallery).
Note: we did a Public Goods Roundup Review here!
The Breakdown:
Cost & Products: $5.75 for 24oz; $2.75 for a refill that makes 24oz
How ‘Clean’ Is This? Really clean. 8 ingredients - mostly made from coconut. No SLS, no ammonia, and no artificial dyes or fragrances.
Packaging: There was a lot of plastic.
Purchasing & Shipping: The website is cleanly designed and ordering is a straightforward. The free shipping threshold seems a little on the high side at a minimum of $45. We get it though. Limited shipments = Lower carbon emissions.
Good to know: Their blog is pretty honest. This is one of the posts that discuss cleaning products and Public Goods’ ingredients.
Coupons: $10 off your first order with ‘BLOG10’ and membership is free for your first two weeks.
Extra Info: The bottle is plastic, but refillable. Refills are pretty cheap at $2.75 per tube — and the tube is recyclable unlike the ones from Grove Collaborative
What’s Your Impact? No bad chemicals in the formula; that means fewer toxins that need to be processed to go into your home.
Clear, reusable bottle, which is pretty enough that we don’t mind leaving around. Way fewer plastic bottles in the future and fewer carbon emissions from transporting heavy bottles. Refills come in a small tube — we haven’t received it yet and can’t comment on the packaging of the refills.
The Experience
Context: We had used powder cleaners with bleach (like Ajax or Comet) and then transitioned to greener cleaners like Seventh Generation and Method . The powdered bleach stuff works like no other and is insanely cheap. However, the chemical ingredients are insane: we would never use the product without gloves!
We tried the Public Goods plant-powered bathroom cleaner to see how it stacks up:
Cleaned our tub, tile, and chrome — got rid of the soap scum really easily
The scent, while still reminding us it is a cleaning solution, is not strong as typical cleaning solutions.
As we cleaned inside of our shower with closed glass doors, we appreciated the lack of strong chemical scent and the use of essential oils like rosemary and lemon.
Armed with several options of sponges and rags, we found that pieces of an old cotton t-shirt was more then sufficient to clean and rub off any soap scum or water residue
Nice spray nozzle; does not have a stream option for those who care
The Cost
We checked out both regular brands like Clorox and Scrubbing Bubbles as well as ‘greener’ brands like Method, Seven Generation Common Goods, and Blueland, which we've reviewed here. We assumed the average household of 4 uses 10-16oz bottles per year.
Money Report: After the initial purchase of the bottle full of solution, the refills cheapen up substantially. The refills are not as cheap as Blueland, but the initial bottle is cheaper.
We did not take into account shipping or membership costs.
The Good:
✔ SLS-Free, ammonia-Free: only 8 plant-derived ingredients
✔ No synthetic ingredients, perfumes or dyes
✔ Refillable
✔ Refills make the Public Goods one of the most inexpensive choices on the market
✔ One of the most affordable options
✔ We liked the reusable bottle: lightweight and well designed, but less substantial when compared to the Blueland reusable bottles; these are similar to Method’s plastic bottles
✔ Because of the care and excess packaging, nothing leaked but….
The Bad:
✗ 3x plastic wrapping on the initial purchase is excessive, see photos
✗ The Public Goods membership
Our Recommendation:
We think if Public Goods is or becomes your go-to, this bathroom cleaner is a BUY. It worked to clean our bathroom and the bottle is so simple. Refillable cleaning products are such a game changer and we think Public Goods does a really nice job here (except for the excess initial packaging! holy plastic! we are definitely going to provide some feedback).
We're on a mission to reduce our personal carbon footprint with small, hopefully easy, changes in our home to fight against climate change. This means we're looking for products that may be all natural, ideally zero waste, reusable or compostable -- while still being affordable!
