Green cleaning products are popping up all over the place. Even mainstream companies are going green. It’s great, but how do you know what’s really green and what really works?

I’ve tried several of the newer brands of cleaning products and compared them against the original green cleaners that I’ve used for years like Seventh Generation and Bi-O-Kleen products. And I must say many of the new cleaners hold their own fantastically.

Eco Mist Solutions is a Canadian company that has a wide range of new green cleaning products including household and professional cleaning products. They have stuff I haven’t seen anywhere else like the Grill Cleaner (this my husband loves, finally a natural way to cut through grill gunk), Plasma and LCD screen cleaners, grout cleaner and grease cutting professional cleaners.

Eco Mist’s carpet and upholstery cleaner works wonderfully. I’ll have to stock up on the carpet and upholstery cleaning spray for a restaurant that my husband cleans.

Another of the newest brands I had the chance to try is Better Life. I am in love with the whatEVER! clary sage and citrusmultipurpose cleaner. It really does clean anything and everything. It lives up to its promises and cleans up whatever you need it to…naturally and with a mild citrusy scent.

Better Life’s Simply Floored and 2 am Miracle are also on my green cleaning favorites list. Simply Floored will leave your floors clean and clear with no sticky residue while the 2 am Miracle is gently enough to use in baby’s room yet strong enough to clean up the messes your little one will make.

Earth Friendly Products, a well known name in green cleaning supplies, has a new phosphate free dish detergent, Wave, that can get even the toughest stains off your cups, mugs and dishes…even coffee and tea stains. Once you try the new Wave dish washing detergent you’ll never want to use anything else.

EcoStore a New Zealand based company now has a home base in the US, practically right in my backyard in Michigan. They have a line of products they created exclusively for Meijer stores (another Michigan company) as well as their line of products sold online and in other stores. I love their eucalyptus laundry liquid and their toilet bowl cleaner. Those are my two favorite products but I haven’t met one of their products yet that I either didn’t like or that didn’t work well.

EcoDiscoveries is another one of the newer green cleaning product companies that I have tried. Their nursery cleaneris amazing- gentle yet tough. I got squirted in the yee with this stuff and it didn’t even burn. Water stings my eyes yet this stuff didn’t. That’s gentle…but it cleans like you wouldn’t believe and you can use it on just about anything- carpet, upholstery, baby seats, changing tables and more.

If you have really tough stains try ecodiscoveries multizyme all purpose enzyme cleaner. It can get the stains out.

For those who vacuum a lot and want an eco-friendlier vacuum consider the envirovac by Eureka. It’s the first environmentally friendlier vacuum, using 33% less energy than your standard upright vacuum. The envirovac uses only 8 amps instead of the normal 12 amps to operate. It also has other eco-features including a bag-less canister (no extra resources needed to replace bags) and a reusable, washable hypoallergenic filter. No need to constantly replace your filter.

These are just a handful of the newest green cleaning products on the market. The great thing is they all work…many even better than their toxic counterparts.

Green cleaners are the future. And since I have a house that always needs to be cleaned I can see myself trying out a lot of new products as they come out. As long as they are green, I’m all for it.

[This post was written by Wenona Napolitano.]