Welcome, green and green-aspiring friends to my Myni review!
I have been on the Myni cleaning products train since before they were called Myni! If you’ve been following my social media for a while (thank you!), you may know this zero-waste cleaning tablet brand as “Filo.”
They recently rebranded to Myni: same cleaning tablets, but new look for packaging, new wheat straw bottles (more on that soon) and a few new products. Luckily I had not yet started to write my Myni review before they settled on their final look.
Full disclosure: I do receive a commission when folks purchase Myni products using my coupon code. I’ve had great feedback from the friends and fans who have used it so far! But I think it’s important to note that I actually asked Myni to give me my commission as gift cards so I could acquire more Myni for my household. I truly do use this brand daily, and I think they deserve your attention for their Canadian, women-led, no-greenwashing solution to low-waste, high effectiveness cleaning products.
How does Myni work?
As I’m sure you’re aware, the main ingredient in most cleaning solutions is water. Myni has concentrated their cleaning ingredients into tablets. Just fill up either your own 750 mL spray bottle or 500 mL foaming soap pump or one of Myni’s very cool wheat straw bottles then pop in a Myni tablet. Let it dissolve and away you go!
Is Myni effective?
Myni Review: Spray Cleaners
I have been using Myni’s various formulas for over two years now. I use their all-purpose spray for the bathroom and other household surfaces and their glass and mirror spray on my windows and mirrors. I keep buying more tablets because I find them very effective!
I clean the sink and counter, including the tap, using Myni all-purpose spray. It has zero issue cutting through the soap scum, toothpaste residue and general grim around the sink. I also use it for all the toilet surfaces. No complaints! I also use Myni bathroom cleaner, but I use it interchangeably with the all-purpose spray.
As for their degreaser spray, I did give it a go on my glass cooktop with great success. I would say the level of greasiness on my cooktop is mild: it gets wiped down almost every day and the Myni degreaser easily wiped away the cooking oil left from the previous day. I did not find it strong enough to cut through multiple layers (potentially months worth…) of greasiness built up on the stainless-steel display where the knobs and LCD panel is, or on the range hood. That is a job for my trusty Marseille soap. I would not buy the degreaser again since I have other products that do that job better; if you’re using it daily to clean fresh grease spots, it would likely work for you.
For my mirrors and glass surfaces, Myni is also super effective. My windows are embarrassingly dirty from child and cat paws, window makers and the beverages that somehow spill upwards onto them when drinks are stored on the window sill. Thanks to Myni, my cats now have a clear view of the birds outside! (But perhaps now that I have returned the window to transparency, the birds will be frightened off!)
I’m not going back to regular all-purpose cleaner or mirror and glass cleaner; I’m hooked on Myni tablets.
Myni Review: Foaming Hand Soap
Myni’s foaming hand soap tabs are a welcome addition to my household. Before kids I just used bar soap, but kids suck at using bar soap.
Foaming hand soap is the perfect type of soap for little hands, and Myni’s tabs mean I can refill my hand soap pumps without buying multi-material pouches or larger plastic bottles. There’s a Myni pump at all four of our bathroom sinks as well as at the kitchen sink!
Myni Review: Dishwasher Tabs
Myni also makes dishwasher tabs. The main difference between Myni dishwasher tabs and other eco-friendly brands I’ve tried is that Myni tabs come in a fully compostable package. I am not big into rinsing by dishes before they hit the dishwasher, and Myni’s dishwasher tabs have not disappointed, handling even the inside of a post-mac-and-cheese InstaPot.
One observation I’ve made after a couple months using Myni’s dishwasher tabs is that although the dishes themselves are sparkling, I find more build-up in my dishwasher filter and more of the dusty coating on the inside of my dishwasher that is characteristic of Calgary’s hard water. Although I’m not dishwasher detergent expert, I think that Myni’s tablets need to increase their hardwater-fighting and degreasing ingredients to be as effective as other brands I have tried.
Myni Review: Laundry Tabs
Myni’s laundry tablets are the one product I have not yet given a full test drive. The idea of laundry detergent in a concentrated tablet isn’t new, and it’s not even unique to the zero-waste laundry category. (Although the eco-friendly tabs I’ve seen don’t look as much like candy? So … yay?) I’m looking forward to giving them a shot as I am already a fan of laundry strips by Tru Earth, so this would be a similar principle. They’re not going to replace my beloved powdered Tide, but they might be part of my laundry routine for lighter soils!
As for scent, Myni’s fragrances are very mild and pleasant; all their products are also available unscented.
Is Myni really eco-friendly?
You know what’s easy to do? Slap a label like “green” or “earth friendly” on a product and magically start selling more of that product to those with an eco-conscience. There is no regulation on any of these “environmental” marketing claims.
So let’s completely put aside anything but the most obvious eco-advantage of Myni and see if it makes sense.
Instead of shipping 750 ml spray bottles of cleaning liquid to retailers and consumers (a full 750 ml spray bottle weighs about 450 g), Myni is shipping tablets in compostable pouches the size of tea bags, weighing in at 4.5 g each.
So even if Myni tablets include the exact same harsh chemicals as many traditional, store-bought spray cleaning brands, they win in the “who’s greener” war by being 100-times lighter to ship.
Of course, Myni tabs are not full of the same harsh chemicals as many traditional cleaners, including headache-inducing fragrances. You can read about their ingredients here.
Additionally, they are legitimately certified 1% for the Planet, Plastic Neutral and No Animal Testing.
The pouches that Myni uses to package its cleaning tabs are entirely compostable (made of corn starch). So are the wheat straw bottles. Essentially you’re left with the spray nozzle and the foaming soap pump as the only plastic components, and those are designed to be reused over and over again.
Is Myni actually affordable?
Sometimes products with a smaller environmental footprint can cost more money. That can be enough to turn off many, many budget-conscious families. (And I just noticed butter is over $6 so inflation is REAL!) If I compare the cost of cleaning with Myni to products I’ve used in the past, I either come out at the same price or cheaper.
Their dishwasher tabs (without any coupons) work out to 33 cents each; the tabs I normally buy (Nature Clean brand) are 36 cents each. Method all-purpose spray and glass cleaner is 60 cents per 100 mL, while Myni works out to 40 cents per 100 mL (without a coupon).
A refill of Method foaming hand soap is $1.09/100 mL, without a coupon, Myni’s foaming hand soap tabs work out to 80 cents per 100 mL.
Don’t forget that there are coupon codes below to save up to 15% on Myni products … meaning these prices get even lower!
What’s the deal with wheat straw bottles?
I had never heard of wheat straw until Myni sent me some of their new bottles. (They used to be glass.)
Wheat straw bottles feel very sturdy. They feel like they’re not going to crack if I drop them; there’s no way you could squeeze these bottles or crush them with your hands like you can most traditional plastic spray bottles.
Wheat straw is a typically unused by-product of wheat production. It contains lignin which is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, “a complex organic polymer deposited in the cell walls of many plants, making them rigid and woody.” The lignin is broken down using a bacteria normally found in soil and is then mixed with sugar. This forms a plastic-like substance that can be molded into a variety of containers that are enitrely biodegradable. Think of it as non-plastic plastic. These resulting containers will break down within 3-6 months in a backyard compost or 1-2 months in a city compost facility. Wheat straw containers don’t go moldy, are super sturdy and amazingly are also microwave and freezer safe. (More info on wheat straw here.)
So yes you can compost your Myni bottles, but unless you have the misfortune of breaking one of the bottles, you will not need to. It’s like refilling a plastic bottle, except when your plastic bottle eventually cracks, you cannot compost it … you have to recycle it … and recycling plastic is not the eco-solution we all thought it was in elementary school.
So why choose Myni cleaning products?
I am a Myni convert, and I think you might be too because:
- They’re truly eco-friendly; no green-washing!
- They’re a Canadian, women-run company.
- They’re effective.
- They’re affordable.
- They’re safe to use around children and pets.
- They make stocking up on cleaning supplies easy and compact … a year’s supply of spray cleaner wouldn’t even fill a shoebox.
Shop Myni
Use my referral coupon MAMANLOUP to save 10% on all your Myni purchases at Myni.ca. Shipping is free when you order four products or more!
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