Smol Limited

How ethical is Smol?

Our research found that Smol had a number of positive ethical policies, including banning animal testing and some toxic chemicals, and reducing plastic packaging use.  

Below we outline some of these policies. To see the full detailed stories, and Smol’s overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.

Smol has a ban on animal testing

Smol is an animal-testing free company. It has introduced a ‘fixed-cut-off-date’ – a year after which no ingredients can have been tested on animals – and all its products are certified by the Leaping Bunny cruelty-free label.

The brand is also fully vegan – meaning that no animal-derived ingredients are used in any of its products.

Most toxic products prohibited

The household cleaning sector uses a wide range of ingredients that may be harmful to human health and the environment, such as the chemicals triclosan, parabens and phthalates. Some of these chemicals are skin irritants, have been linked to breast cancer, or may be endocrine disruptors, substances that interfere with the body’s hormone system.

Smol has banned many of these ingredients, stating on its website: "Biodegradable ingredients, no phthalates, parabens, hormone disruptors or triclosan is great news for you and even better news for the planet."

Unfortunately, however, Smol does use liquid plastics that can last for a long time in the environment, contributing to the plastic pollution crisis. In 2024, the company told Ethical Consumer that it uses the plastic PVOH in its laundry capsules and dishwasher tablets.

Smol mostly uses reusable and plastic-free packaging

Most products sold by Smol are either unpackaged, or in reusable, returnable or plastic-free packaging. The brand does sell plastic bottles-for-life, but these are made from recycled materials and can be returned once empty. Smol then works with a company “who clean the plastic bottles … to allow us to reuse them again”, it said.

Through these and other steps, Smol has significantly reduced packaging for its products and in its supply chains. In an email to Ethical Consumer, it stated for example that it had replaced most of its bottles “with carton refill alternatives that have 83% less plastic by waste and are 100% recyclable”, and that by changing the packaging for transporting its goods it had removed around 4 tonnes of plastic per year.

Smol therefore scored very highly in Ethical Consumer’s packaging rating overall.

Lack of supply chain transparency

Smol has taken some positive steps to ensure the rights of workers in its supply chain.

It has adopted a policy outlining standards it expected suppliers to meet, such as no discrimination and provision of a safe and healthy working environment.

In order to ensure suppliers are meeting these standards, Smol regularly visits their sites. In 2024, it stated: “Our supplier audit helps us understand all of our suppliers, how they operate, the materials they use and how they look after their own staff. We’re interested in everything from their energy sources and waste management, through to living wage and modern slavery policies."

However, the company has not published a list of its suppliers – a vital step towards ensuring supply chain transparency, and allowing workers, unions and advocacy groups to contact it in the case of concerns or malpractice.

The company therefore received a middling score in Ethical Consumer’s workers rating overall.

This article was written in February 2026, and most of the research was conducted in April 2024.