Some household cleaning products contain ingredients like bleach, chlorine and ammonia. Toxic chemicals aren't just bad for the environment, they are also potentially harmful to people.

Below are a few ingredients that you might want to look out for on the labels of your cleaning products. Don't worry, we don't use any of them in our products (we wouldn't want them in our homes either!).

• Perchloroethylene or “PERC”. You will often find this in spot cleaning sprays (carpet stain removers, for example). It is a neurotoxin, which means it can do bad things to your brain. If that's not scary enough, the Environmental Protection Agency in America lists it as a possible carcinogen.
  
  
• Triclosan. This is a fairly aggressive antibacterial ingredient in a lot of household cleaners. You would think that's a good thing - nobody wants bad bacteria in their home! The specific problem with Triclosan is that it can help resistant strains of bacteria to develop. So when you use it, you are potentially creating dangerous super-bugs that can't be killed by anything in your cleaning cupboard. Lovely.
  
  
• 2-Butoxyethanol. Try saying that quickly. You will find it in multi-surface cleaners and window sprays. It is a solvent (technically a 'glycol ether') and can do some nasty things inside your body. Everything from causing sore throats to liver and kidney damage. It usually isn't used in dangerous quantities but if you are using your cleaning products in a badly ventilated room (like your bathroom) it can build up to unsafe levels in the air.

This is a fair question. Why would you trust a product to keep your home clean if it wasn't actually as good as you would hope? Luckily, our products are carefully developed to be as powerful and effective as the products in your cupboard already (without the harmful ingredients and nasty side effects).

We spent months researching, testing and perfecting our recipes before we made them available to the public. Norfolk Natural Living was founded by Bella Middleton, a mum of three young children. She wanted to make sure she was protecting her family as well as the planet with her new cleaning solutions.

Not always (but ours are!).

There are plenty of nasty things in nature. Just flick onto the Discovery Channel if you don't believe us. When you see the words 'natural ingredients' on a bottle, never assume that it is necessarily better than an artificial alternative.

We put a lot of time and effort into creating 100% natural formulas that are also good for the planet.

Did you know that a lot of the cleaning products you use contain phosphates? Phosphates are (usually) natural, but they are also dangerous in the home and in nature. Around the house, they have been known to cause headaches and drowsiness. In nature, they cause huge amounts of damage to waterways (rivers, lakes and ponds), killing fish and causing excessive algae growth.

To combat this, water purification centres use huge amounts of energy trying to clean the phosphates (caused by cleaning and laundry products) out of water. That energy has to come from somewhere. Often, fossil fuels. It's a dangerous cycle - one that we avoid by not using them!

We are asked this a lot. Technically, bleach is natural. That doesn't mean it's a good thing to use.

There are plenty of safe, eco-friendly bleach alternatives available. Most jobs that you do with bleach at the moment can be tackled perfectly well with our Scented Vinegar. It is a powerful, effective cleaner that contains no harmful ingredients.

All of our products have been developed to be suitable for people with sensitive skin. Remember that all skin is different so if you are prone to reactions, please consider using a products once and waiting for a few days to see if a reaction occurs.

The ingredients of all of our products are listen on their pages on this website, as well as on the label for each bottle.

Our products are developed to be as multi-use as possible. There are obvious exceptions to this (the Wool & Silk Wash in our laundry department for example).

You shouldn't have any problems using our products on your possessions. All we would suggest is that you follow the specific care instructions for specialist items in your house. For example, marble worktops are prone to absorbing anything placed on them (they are very porous) so you should use our specialist Marble Cleaner rather than, say, Multi-Surface Spray.

Yes, they can! And we really hope that all of our customers re-use their bottles as much as possible and then recycle them.

This is a question we get asked a lot. Usually followed by 'why do you use plastic?'. That is a fair question and we will go into it in some detail here.

When Bella first had the idea for Norfolk Natural Living, her plan was to use other materials for the bottles. We tried waterproof card and glass but neither of them were suitable.

Cardboard cartons presented two issues. The first was that they tended to burst in the post. We sent ourselves some test parcels and they came back very soggy! You can avoid this using excessive amounts of bubble wrap. Which can't be added to your household recycling bin. So that would have generated a lot of landfill waste.

Glass bottles are both heavy and breakable. The weight would have meant a big increase in the cost you paid for postage, as well as using more fuel in the delivery process. The breakability would have led to huge amounts of wastage.

In the end, we turned to some very clever plastic experts for help. After a lot of discussion, the suggested that we use PET plastic. PET is the most recycled plastic in the world. That means that are bottles are already made of recycled plastic and will be easily recycled again when you dispose of them. It is also lightweight and strong. The best solution to our eco packaging problem.

We offer refills in our shop in Holt, Norfolk. This is great if you live in the area. Not so great if you happen to live in Edinburgh.

As you read this, we are hard at work trying some ideas and speaking to experts. Delivering refills in the post is often worse for the environment than just sending you a new bottle. If you read the answer above about recycling our bottles, you will see why we can't send you replacements in a plastic pouch.

We spoke to some logistics companies who said that it would be more harmful for you to send us back your bottles, us refill them and then post them back to you. So that idea went out of the window quite quickly.

Eventually, we will come up with a sustainable solution. Until then, it is much better for us to send you a replacement bottle and you recycle the one you already have.