Walk into any supermarket cleaning aisle, and you’ll find shelves stacked with products making bold claims about being natural, organic or plant-based.
For consumers, those labels are reassuring. For you, as someone working on the formulation or sourcing side, they raise the more practical question of what goes into these products, and how do you make them work?
The reality is that organic and natural cleaning formulations are complex. The ingredients need to be carefully selected not just for their environmental or marketing credentials, but for how they perform together in a finished product.
This article runs through the key ingredient categories you’re likely to be working with when you’re developing organic cleaning products, what they do and what to look out for.
What does ‘organic’ mean?
It’s worth being clear on terminology, because ‘organic’ can mean different things, depending on who’s using it.
In chemistry, ‘organic’ usually refers to carbon-based compounds, which cover an enormous range of ingredients, including plenty of synthetic ones.
In the cleaning and personal care world, ‘organic’ signals that a product contains naturally derived, biodegradable ingredients and avoids certain synthetic chemicals.
For formulators, the certification frameworks that define what’s permissible are more useful reference points. Ecocert is the most widely recognised in Europe. It sets specific rules around ingredient origin, processing and biodegradability.
It’s also worth noting that consumer expectations and regulatory definitions don’t always line up neatly. An ingredient can be naturally derived and fully biodegradable without meeting a specific certification standard, which means you’ll need to be smart in how you position and substantiate your product claims.
Surfactants
Regardless of what else goes into a cleaning product, surfactants do the heavy lifting. They’re the ingredients that reduce surface tension, lift soils from surfaces, and keep them suspended in the rinse water. Without effective surfactants, you don’t have a cleaning product. You have scented water.
The good news for formulators working in the organic space is that some of the best-performing surfactants available are among the most sustainable. Naturally derived options have come a long way, and you don’t need to accept a performance trade-off to meet any biodegradability or eco-label requirements.
Alkyl Polyglucosides (APGs) are one of the most compelling options in this category. Derived from renewable raw materials (glucose and fatty alcohols from plant sources), they have an excellent biodegradability profile and are well tolerated on skin, which makes them useful across household surface cleaners, dishwashing formulations and products that sit within the personal care category. They’re also effective across a wide pH range, which gives you useful flexibility when you’re building a formula around a specific application.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB) is an amphoteric surfactant derived from coconut oil that you’ll find in a wide range of cleaning and personal care formulations. It’s valued for its mildness, its ability to boost and stabilise foam, and the conditioning effect it contributes to the finished product. It works particularly well in combination with anionic surfactants, helping to moderate irritation potential while supporting foam profile.
Ammonium Lauryl Sulphate (ALS) is another organic surfactant worth considering. It delivers strong foaming and good cleansing performance, and the naturally derived versions sit comfortably within formulations targeting eco-label credentials.
In practice, most effective surfactant systems use a blend of two or more types. Combining an APG with an amphoteric like CAPB, for example, lets you optimise across mildness, foam quality and cleaning performance in a way that a single surfactant can rarely achieve on its own.
Solvents and pH modifiers
Beyond surfactants, solvents play an important supporting role, particularly in formulations targeting grease, oils or protein-based soils. This category has seen a shift away from petrochemical-derived solvents toward bio-based alternatives that can meet the same functional requirements but have a better environmental profile.
Lactic Acid is one of the more versatile ingredients available to formulators working in this space. Naturally derived through fermentation, it’s biodegradable, readily accepted under major certification frameworks, and does several useful things in a cleaning formulation. As an acidic pH modifier, it’s effective at descaling and removing limescale deposits, which makes it a strong choice in toilet and bathroom cleaners, kettle descalers and hard surface products where mineral build-up is the target soil. It also has documented antimicrobial properties, which adds a functional layer for certain product types. Compared to some other organic acids, Lactic Acid tends to be well-tolerated in formulations. It’s less aggressive on surfaces, a relevant consideration when you’re formulating for domestic use.
Citric Acid is the other organic acid you’ll commonly encounter in this category. It’s widely used for similar reasons, such as adjusting pH, chelating or descaling, and is often used alongside or interchangeably with Lactic Acid, depending on the application and cost considerations.
Chelating and sequestering agents
Chelating agents bind the metal ions (particularly calcium and magnesium) from hard water, which would otherwise interfere with the surfactants’ performance or leave deposits on surfaces. In hard water areas, a cleaning formula without effective chelation won’t perform as well as it should.
The challenge, historically, has been that the most effective chelating agents, like EDTA and phosphates, carry significant environmental baggage. They’re persistent, they contribute to aquatic eutrophication, and they’re increasingly restricted or excluded under eco-label schemes. The alternatives, including GLDA, MGDA and citrate-based chelators, are more readily biodegradable and are now well established in formulations targeting EU Ecolabel compliance.
Preservatives, stabilisers and functional additives
Even a cleaning product built entirely from natural ingredients needs to be microbiologically stable. That’s non-negotiable from both a safety and a regulatory standpoint. It’s an area where formulators working in the organic space sometimes encounter difficulty.
Preservatives that are both effective and acceptable under Ecocert criteria are more limited than those used in conventional formulations, and some perform differently depending on pH, temperature or the other ingredients in the system.
Fragrance is another area worth flagging. Essential oils and natural fragrance blends are commonly used in organic cleaning products, and they contribute meaningfully to the consumer experience. But they also carry a sensitivity risk that needs to be managed carefully, particularly in leave-on products or those that contact the skin.
For thickening and texture, naturally derived options are well established and generally straightforward to work with. Cellulose-based thickeners and Xanthan Gum are widely used and perform reliably.
Opacifiers are another functional ingredient category worth considering if your formulations need the characteristic milky or pearlescent appearance that many consumers associate with premium cleaning products. Historically, many opacifiers relied on microplastics or synthetic waxes to achieve that visual effect, which creates an obvious problem for products positioning themselves as natural or eco-conscious. Microplastic-free and sulphate-free opacifiers are now available that deliver the same result without the environmental impacts, while fully biodegradable variants are increasingly accessible, too. If you’re targeting eco-label certification or making microplastic-free claims in your marketing, it’s worth having these on your radar early in your development process.
Formulating for performance and sustainability
Sourcing ingredients with good eco-label credentials should be your starting point, not the finish line. The real formulation challenge is in making those ingredients work together to deliver consistent cleaning performance at commercial scale.
pH compatibility between ingredients, stability across storage temperatures, interactions within your surfactant blend and viscosity control all need to work in concert. Natural ingredients can sometimes be more sensitive to these variables than their synthetic equivalents.
Raw material consistency matters here, too. If the quality or composition of a key ingredient varies between batches, it can create instability or performance issues that are difficult to diagnose and fix.
That’s where MegaChem UK can help. We supply a range of ingredients relevant to organic and natural cleaning formulations, including APG, CAPB, ALS and Lactic Acid. We work with formulators and procurement teams across the home care and I&I sectors, and we understand the supply chain reliability and technical consistency that your formulation work requires.
So, if you’re developing a new product line or reviewing your current ingredient supply, we’re happy to discuss your requirements, share technical data or arrange samples. Get in touch with our team to find out more.
