Clean homes are a necessity. Yet to keep our houses clean, is it right to pollute our environment? After all, Planet Earth is ours too. This means we have to protect it and the flora and fauna it houses alongside us. Love thy neighbour, regardless of species.

If you’re here, you are in agreement with the above statements. And looking for a sustainable alternative to toxic house cleaners, which disturb marine life and decrease our soil quality. Yet, not everyone has the time to make bioenzyme. Sometimes we need an instant solution to our cleaning needs, and I’m taking the time to review an imperfectly sustainable solution for you. FutureTabs has come up with a multi-purpose cleanser which can be used on all surfaces but glass. They claim it is vegan, eco-friendly, and toxin-free. According to their experts, it works best when used on upholstery. Yet, how does it perform? What claims are true, and what is its true environmental impact?

Greenwashing or sustainable – let’s find out.

Packaging

Packaging makes up 10% of the product and often ends up in our landfills unless it’s reused. Hence, sustainable packaging is multi-use and biodegradable or compostable. Yet, as always, there are nuances. Not everyone uses the same product the 50 times it needs to be reused to reduce its environmental impact.

Hold on to the thought. Because guess what? Future Tabs has reusable plastic packaging made of PET plastic. Hence, unless you’re committed to using the bottle, whether it’s for their product or to store another, the packaging won’t pass the environmentally friendly checklist.

The tabs come in paper packaging, which is, of course, a better idea than plastic. The bottle comes in recyclable cardboard packaging, another sustainable choice at face value.

Yet, there’s a problem. The cardboard packaging, for me, came wrapped in bubble wrap, which is not a good idea, environmentally speaking. Now I don’t blame Future Tabs for this, as it could be a choice made on the part of the startup’s shipping partners.

Now that we have touched the surface, let’s take a dive into the product itself.

Formulation and Ingredients

Now at first glance, the product is sustainable. It comes in the form of tablets that can be dissolved in water that you fill from your tap. Thus, we save on transportation emissions with this formula.

But if we go deeper, the water gets murkier. The ingredients are mostly vegan and eco-friendly. Fragrance and sodium loroyal glutamate can be derived from plant-based sources, but the company experts cannot guarantee the same. The fragrance claims to be nontoxic as well , but there’s no confirmation of the same. The product says it is natural, which holds true. It also says pregnant people need to be cautious when using it.

Emissions

We cannot talk about environmental sustainability without talking about emissions. The product is shipped from Punjab but was made in China, increasing its emission rating.

Ethical

We can’t say a product is sustainable unless the workers making it are paid a fair wage. The company has no idea regarding the same despite their complete honesty when sharing details of their new product.

Yet, what is the truest test of a product? Whether it works. And does FutureTab’s Multi-Surface Cleanser work?

Does the Product Work?

Now I can’t claim to be an expert at cleaning. So I put the product to the hardest test I can think of. A mom’s scrutiny. I got my cleaning staff and mother to use it when cleaning the house and got their reviews. Here’s what they had to say-

Pinki Das- The cleaner is good as it removed hard-to-move spots easily for surfaces.

Sujata Chatterjee- While the cleaner cleans well, it lacks the shine that comes in products after cleaning with conventional cleaning products.

After trying my hand at cleaning with this product, I can say that it’s good. It removes stains with ease. However, for food stains on wooden surfaces, some scrubbing might be required. The tablets also take around an hour to dissolve properly, so I suggest dissolving them overnight.

For ₹300, you can be sure you’re cleaning your house for three months in a skin-friendly and eco-friendly manner. The vegan and non-toxic claims need to be looked at again by the experts, in my opinion.

What do you think? Would you give Future Tabs a chance to clean your home?

Disclaimer: I have tried my best to give an honest review. To that end, there is this= Future Tabs sent me a free sample as a barter to review.

Updated- 22/09/2023