You would be forgiven for thinking that the small vials arriving through your letterbox from Dutch brand Kinfill are perfume – they’re beautiful enough in their slim glass containers and the smell does little to give away their true purpose – but these perfect packages are in fact a sustainable solution to the dirtiest business of all: cleaning.
The Rotterdam-based company, launched in early 2020, was created as an answer to the alarming rate with which single-use plastics are polluting the planet. Their cleaning concentrates, sent in the aforementioned vials, are blended with tap water in their Forever glass bottle to produce a gentle yet effective cleanser. Accessories like a rubber bottle protector and trigger spray are also included, providing you with a full cleaning kit that won’t need replacing every time it runs out.
The concentrates themselves are 100% biodegradable, cruelty-free, and made from a mix of alcohols, salts, and citric acids. More importantly, they’re free from palm oil, aluminum, parabens, silicone, and every other harsh ingredient you’ve been told to avoid.
The fragrances are also naturally derived, conforming to the ECOCERT and ECOLABEL standards. They use ingredients with natural cleansing properties, like anti-bacterial lavender or grease-cutting orange, to achieve their four evocative aromas.
So they smell good and they do good, surely that’s enough? Not for Kinfill, which, astonishingly, looks good too.
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Kinfill bottles are satisfyingly shaped, with a substantial body and short neck that’s easily held, made using crystal clear Italian glass. Their angular tapered tops are reminiscent of poetry, like the lift given to the base of a hand-thrown vase. The logo is small and floats on a sea of cleaning agent, providing little distraction, while the rubber bottle protector adds a subtle hint of color.
This standard of design is a far cry from the everyday products we’ve grown accustomed to. Picture the cupboard under your kitchen sink: how many half-empty plastic bottles are crammed in there? With garish logos and illustrations of impossibly clean tiles. How many have some form of resin from another product crystalizing around their body? How filthy is the shelf they sit on? How many chemical burns are seared into the plywood? This might be a little out of left field, but shouldn’t cleaning products be, well, clean?
That’s what Kinfill believes at least, and it’s hard to disagree with them.
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Clean up your act and your home with Kinfill.
Photography by Freya McOmish.