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Branch Basics

Branch Basics

Evaluation Completed: 
May 5, 2025
Cleaning & Laundry
Adults
Bathroom
Kitchen

Branch Basics has some solid bona fides when it comes to ingredient safety in the form of two best-in-class certifications for most of their products (EWG Verified, Made Safe). They also offer a refill option and concentrated formulas that helps reduce packaging waste and provides a small carbon emissions reduction benefit from not shipping heavy liquid bottles. We’d really like to see a more comprehensive approach to addressing environmental impacts and people benefits, particularly given the emphasis the brand places on strong sustainability claims. Despite some decent baseline efforts, there just wasn’t quite enough to improve their performance on our evaluation. With some additional action and investment we are confident they can improve.

Hilde Status:

Avoid

Consider

Recommended

We try to avoid purchasing or using products made by this company or their brands in our homes.
We may decide to purchase or use products made by this company or their brands in our homes when other options are not accessible.
We regularly try to purchase and use products made by this company or their brands in our homes.
Hilde Ratings
Topic
Rating
Ingredient Safety
Environmental impact
People Benefits
Accountability
Hilde Approved Certifications
EWG Verified
Made Safe
Hilde Likes

Steps to reduce packaging waste

Verified ingredient safety efforts

Opportunities for Improvement

Launching climate protection efforts

Tackling advanced ingredient safety issues

Providing public disclosure and reporting

Filling gaps on people impacts

Launching efforts to protect biodiversity

Additional Information
Parent Company:
None
Owned Brands:
None
Product Types:
Surface cleaners, laundry detergent, dish soap

Evaluation Summary

Company Insights

Category Description

Our ingredient safety evaluation criteria are designed to help us determine how a company measures, manages, and discloses, the use of chemicals of concern that may be present in raw materials, ingredients, manufacturing processes, and finished products.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Criteria included in this category include but are not limited to goals, policies, practices and outcomes for the following topics:

Product & Packaging Circularity
Climate Protection, Biodiversity Protection
Goals & Metrics
Impact Reduction
High Quality Certifications
Other Topics
Ranking: Top 25%

Company ranks in the top 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Cleaning & Laundry

industry

Ranking: Bottom 25%

Company ranks in the bottom 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Cleaning & Laundry

industry

Hilde Likes

Steps to reduce packaging waste

This company is integrating packaging options like refills that can reduce the environmental impacts of packaging waste for cleaning & personal care products

Opportunities for Improvement

Launching climate protection efforts

We would like to see this company take credible actions to measure, reduce, and report on their greenhouse gas emissions

Launching efforts to protect biodiversity

We would like to see this company take steps to understand and mitigate the impacts their operations, supply chain, or products have on biodiversity, nature, and ecosystems and communicate about them publicly

Category Description

Our ingredient safety evaluation criteria are designed to help us determine how a company measures, manages, and discloses, the use of chemicals of concern that may be present in raw materials, ingredients, manufacturing processes, and finished products.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Criteria included in this category include but are not limited to goals, policies, practices and outcomes for the following topics:

Responsible Sourcing
Living Wages
Paid Maternity Leave
Supply Chain Transparency
High Quality Certifications
Other Topics
Ranking: Top 25%

Company ranks in the top 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Cleaning & Laundry

industry

Ranking: Bottom 25%

Company ranks in the bottom 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Cleaning & Laundry

industry

Hilde Likes
None Identified
Opportunities for Improvement

Filling gaps on people impacts

We believe this company should put credible efforts in place to ensure that their employees are treated fairly, that human rights are protected for people in their supply chain, raw materials are sourced responsibly, and publicly share info about their work

Category Description

Our ingredient safety evaluation criteria are designed to help us determine how a company measures, manages, and discloses, the use of chemicals of concern that may be present in raw materials, ingredients, manufacturing processes, and finished products.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Criteria included in this category include but are not limited to goals, policies, practices and outcomes for the following topics:

Mission Integration
Advocacy
Public Reporting & Disclosure
Performance Incentives
Ethical AI
High Quality Certifications
Ranking: Top 25%

Company ranks in the top 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Cleaning & Laundry

industry

Ranking: Bottom 25%

Company ranks in the bottom 25% of companies currently rated by Hilde in the

Cleaning & Laundry

industry

Hilde Likes
None Identified
Opportunities for Improvement

Providing public disclosure and reporting

We think this company should start publishing regular annual reports on sustainability or ESG topics for consumers or other stakeholders and maintain a publicly available archive of past reports

Category Description

Our ingredient safety evaluation criteria are designed to help us determine how a company measures, manages, and discloses, the use of chemicals of concern that may be present in raw materials, ingredients, manufacturing processes, and finished products.

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Real people (not AI) do our evaluations. If you think you see something we missed, please contact us. You can read more about our company evaluation methods and check some of the limitations of our evaluations. The content on this site, including for example the evaluations and ratings, are for informational purposes and represent solely the opinions of Hilde. They do not represent endorsements or investment advice. Hilde makes no promises regarding the content of its site, including without limitation its accuracy, quality, completeness, and timeliness. Accordingly, Hilde is not liable for any loss or damage that might arise from reliance on the content of the site. For more information, visit our Terms of use.

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