Did you know that most household cleaning products contain chemicals that aren't even listed as ingredients? We talked to one man behind a brand looking to change the face of household cleaning products by being 100% transparent about what you're using.

Mike Mayer, the co-founder of Meliora, an EWG Verified and Made Safe certified cleaning product brand, answered a few pressing questions we had about Meliora and the importance of transparency in household products:

What prompted you to start Meliora?

In the fall of 2012, Kate (our Founder) was getting her Master's in Environmental Engineering while also working in regulatory compliance for consumer products in Chicago. She found an article that P&G was reducing the levels of a known carcinogen by-product in one of their “free & clear” laundry detergents, which seemed odd. Why would a “free & clear” product have ingredients that were known to be bad for human health in any amount? 

Meliora Cleaning Products was founded in May 2013 with the mission to create a clean, happy, and healthy home life for you – one that doesn’t rely on secret formulas and mysterious chemicals.

Over the years, Meliora Cleaning Products has been dedicated to transparency and sustainability for ingredients, packaging, and business. As a Certified B Corporation, we consider the impact of our business decisions on the people and planet around us. That’s why you’ll see refillable and recyclable materials such as cardboard, steel, paper, and glass packaging options instead of single-use plastic jugs and bottles. Every product is MADE SAFE Certified; all ingredients are vegan and Certified Cruelty-Free. Every product is proudly made in-house in Chicago, IL, by an amazing team that’s paid a living wage.

As we’ve grown, we’ve stayed true to our mission and let our Core Values—transparency, Community, Planet over Profit, and a commitment to getting Better—guide us in our sustainability journey.

What is the one thing every consumer should know about the average laundry detergent on the market right now?

The “average” laundry detergent (often in a bulky, single-use plastic jug) contains dyes, preservatives, synthetic fragrances, and optical brighteners. Unlike cosmetics, there’s no federal requirement to list laundry detergent ingredients. California finally required ingredients on packaging in 2019!

Meliora Cleaning Products lists the ingredients on every product we make so you know what you’re bringing into your home, and we’ve been doing that since day one in 2013.

One of the hardest things for people these days is sifting through all the marketing claims to dig into what they are really bringing into their homes. One of the more notorious ingredients out there today is PVA, or polyvinyl alcohol, which is an ingredient in many film-wrapped tablets and sheet products. This film is intentionally released into our wastewater systems with questionable downstream effects.

 Unfortunately, marketing claims deliberately bury this information under the technically correct but mildly misleading “plastic-free packaging” claim. It’s true, but it ignores the fact that the product is made with plastic inside the plastic-free packaging. Learn more about PVA 

How can consumers become better informed about ingredients on their product labels?

Even today, in 2025, there is no federal requirement to list the ingredients on the cleaning products you bring into your home. That’s why Meliora Cleaning Products pushes so hard to tell you what we use to make the cleaning products for your home and works with organizations like MADE SAFE to push for better ingredients in the products we use daily. Ingredient disclosure map 

Ask questions. Demand transparency. If a company doesn’t list the ingredients on its packaging—including every ingredient considered “fragrance”—find someone who will.

 Swap out your detergent for Meliora using a special 15% off discount code "CLARYCOLLAB" valid now thru 4/17