The label on Koala Eco's kitchen cleaner lists seven ingredients, and the last one is acetic acid, the acid in vinegar. That one line tells you two useful things: why the spray cuts through greasy benchtops, and why it must never go in the same bucket as chlorine bleach.
Koala Eco is the cleaning range people ask us the most questions about: which bottle is for which job, what "plant-based" means once you read the fine print, how the concentrate maths works out, and what to do about the cat. Here are the answers, and the story of how a Sydney couple came to make cleaning products at all.
A Sydney household, 2017
Koala Eco was founded in Sydney in 2017 by Jessica Bragdon and Paul Davidson, who are married. Jessica grew up in Boston and New Hampshire, Paul was born in Western Australia, and they met in New York before moving to Sydney. After a difficult year for the family, they set about taking harsh chemicals out of their home and, by their own account, could not find products they were happy with that also worked, so they made their own. The first was the kitchen cleaner with lemon myrtle and mandarin, still the one most people start with.
The business is family-owned and Jessica is co-CEO. The products sold in Australia are made and bottled here, with chemists and labs in Sydney; a separate US-made range has different formulas, so an ingredient list on an American site will not match the bottle on our shelf. The essential oils come from Australian suppliers, and because fresh oil is bought for each batch, the colour of the liquid varies a little from bottle to bottle. The company is a 1% for the Planet member and gained Leaping Bunny certification in 2025.
What is in the bottle
"Plant-based" is a description, not an ingredient, so here are the labels. The Multipurpose Kitchen Cleaner 500ml reads: aqua (purified water), alcohol (sugar-based biodegradable), biodegradable natural solubiliser, biodegradable natural surfactant, citrus reticulata (mandarin essential oil), backhousia citriodora (lemon myrtle essential oil), acetic acid (found in vinegar). The bathroom cleaner uses the same base with eucalyptus radiata oil in place of the citrus.
The glass cleaner is different: aqua, sugar-based alcohol, mentha piperita (peppermint essential oil), a solubiliser, citric acid as a pH adjuster and sodium benzoate as a preservative. No surfactant at all, which is why it does not streak. The floor cleaner and dish soap are surfactant-based rather than alcohol-based; the dish soap label reads: water, sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate, decyl glucoside, limonene (from essential oils), coco-glucoside, cocamidopropylamine oxide, citral (from essential oils), xanthan gum, mandarin essential oil, lemon myrtle essential oil.
In plain terms: decyl glucoside and coco-glucoside are surfactants made from plant sugars and coconut-derived fatty alcohols. Sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate is a synthetic surfactant whose feedstock the brand does not publish, so we call the range plant-based only in the brand's own words. What the brand says it leaves out is dyes, masking agents, synthetic fragrance, chlorine, bleach, SLS and phosphates. None of it is chemical-free, because nothing is, and the labels are honest about that.
The scents are real oils from Australian plants. Lemon myrtle is Backhousia citriodora, a rainforest tree from Queensland and northern New South Wales whose oil is very high in citral. Eucalyptus radiata is the narrow-leaved peppermint gum, minty and camphorous. Rosalina is Melaleuca ericifolia, a coastal paperbark sometimes called lavender tea tree. The oils are also where the fragrance allergens sit: limonene and citral are declared on the dish soap, and tea tree oil is a known skin sensitiser, so patch test if you react to fragrance.
Which bottle for which job
The kitchen cleaner is for benches, the fridge, the microwave and any food-prep surface: spray on, wipe off with a wet or dry cloth. The Bathroom Cleaner Eucalyptus 500ml ($14.85) is the same idea for the shower, tiles and basin. The Glass Cleaner Peppermint 500ml ($14.85) is for windows, mirrors and glass doors, sprayed lightly and wiped with a lint-free cloth. The Stainless Steel Cleaner Peppermint 500ml ($14.85) works the other way round: spray it onto a dry lint-free cloth, rub, then buff.
The Floor Cleaner Mandarin & Peppermint 500ml ($14.85) goes into a bucket of warm water at one or two capfuls, or straight onto a wet cloth. It is pH-neutral and alcohol-free, and the brand says it has been tested on waxed wood, engineered stone and marble. The Dish Soap Mandarin 500ml ($14.85) is used at about 10ml, two capfuls, to a sink of warm water, so a bottle is roughly fifty sinks. There is also a dishwasher powder and a Fruit & Veg Wash 500ml ($14.85).
The refill and concentrate maths
Every 500ml spray has two cheaper ways to buy it. The first is the 1L refill: the Kitchen Cleaner 1L is $23.80, which is $11.90 per 500ml bottle against $14.85 for the ready-made spray. The Bathroom Cleaner 1L and Floor Cleaner 1L are also $23.80, the Glass Cleaner 1L is $23.95 and the Dish Soap 1L is $25.90.
The second is the concentrate, for the kitchen and bathroom cleaners only. The Kitchen Cleaner Concentrated 500ml and the Bathroom Cleaner Concentrated Eucalyptus 500ml are $29.80 each and each makes three 500ml bottles. The instructions: pour one third of the concentrate into your empty 500ml bottle, using the line markings, then fill to the base of the neck with water. That is roughly one part concentrate to two parts water, and it works out at $9.93 a bottle, a third less than the ready-made spray. You need an empty spray bottle to do it; a used Koala Eco one is fine, or there is a Glass Spray Bottle 500ml for $17.95. The plastic bottles themselves are made from recycled plastic collected in Australia and are recyclable.
Hands, laundry, dogs and the rest
For the bathroom sink there is a Hand Wash Rosalina 500ml and a Hand Wash Lemon Scented Eucalyptus & Rosemary 500ml, both $17.85, plus a body wash and a hand and body lotion in the rosalina scent. The hand wash contains no alcohol, so, as the brand's own FAQ says, it does not work as a sanitiser; the Hand Sanitiser Tea Tree 500ml ($19.85) is the alcohol-based one.
The laundry liquid comes in two scents on our shelves, Lemon Scented Eucalyptus & Rosemary 1L ($29.85) and Mandarin 1L ($29.80), and the Laundry Stain Spray 500ml ($16.85) is the fragrance-free one. The Dog Wash Marjoram & Rosalina 500ml is $16.85. The full range is on our Koala Eco collection.
Two cautions: bleach, and cats
The kitchen and bathroom cleaners contain acetic acid and the glass cleaner contains citric acid. Chlorine bleach mixed with an acid gives off chlorine gas. So never use these sprays in the same bucket, sink or wipe-down as bleach, never spray one over a surface that still has bleach on it, and rinse between products if you are switching. Bleach and ammonia are the same story, giving off chloramines. None of this is specific to Koala Eco; it is true of any acidic cleaner, including plain vinegar.
Cats are the other thing. The brand's FAQ describes the products as fine to use around pets. Independent veterinary poison advice is more cautious: the Pet Poison Helpline lists peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree and citrus oils among those of concern for cats, because cats lack a liver enzyme needed to break them down, and the more concentrated the oil, the greater the risk. A diluted cleaning spray is a long way from neat oil, but the practical steps are easy: let surfaces dry before the cat walks on them, keep the concentrates out of reach, never apply any of it to an animal or its bedding, and do not diffuse the oils where the cat sleeps. The dog wash is for dogs.
Questions people ask
Does it disinfect?
The kitchen and stainless cleaner pages claim the alcohol-based sprays kill 99.9 per cent of germs. That is the brand's claim and no test standard is published, so we pass it on as theirs rather than ours. The dish soap and hand wash contain no alcohol and the brand does not claim it for them.
Is it septic and greywater friendly?
Koala Eco states that all its products are suitable for greywater and septic systems, and the formulas contain no phosphates. Again, the brand's statement.
Can I use it on marble or timber?
The brand says the sprays were tested on marble, concrete and porous stone, and the floor cleaner on waxed wood. Patch test first, and keep the base of the concentrate bottle dry; the label warns that moisture under it can mark a surface.
The Koala Eco range, refills and concentrates included, is on the shelves at Leichhardt and Crows Nest, and can be added to any online order for delivery around Sydney.
