Free & Clear Glass Cleaner - 32 fl oz

Cadia's Non-Toxic Glass Cleaner earns its name honestly. It's a USDA Certified Biobased formula — certified by the USDA to contain a verified percentage of renewable, plant-derived material — and it skips the ammonia, bleach, and harsh solvents found in most conventional glass cleaners.

This is the Free & Clear formulation: no added dyes or synthetic fragrance, just a straightforward, biodegradable clean. Each 32 oz bottle delivers a crystal-clear, streak-free finish on windows, mirrors, and glass shower doors — the kind of clean you can do with the windows shut and not think twice about it.

Spray it on, wipe it off — no special ventilation needed, no residue left behind for little hands or paws to find later. It's vegan and cruelty-free, and the plant-derived, biodegradable ingredients break down responsibly after they go down the drain.

Store at room temperature out of direct sunlight. Suitable for vegan households and anyone avoiding ammonia, bleach, or synthetic fragrance in their cleaning cabinet.

Ingredients: Water, Denatured Alcohol, Ethoxylated Alcohol, Benzisothiazolinone, and Biodegradable & Plant-Derived Ingredients.*

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Common Questions

How does this compare to a conventional ammonia-based glass cleaner?
Conventional glass cleaners typically rely on ammonia (often 2-5% by volume) and petroleum-derived solvents to cut through grease and evaporate quickly without streaking. Cadia's formula uses denatured alcohol and an ethoxylated alcohol surfactant instead, which cut oils and fingerprint residue through the same basic solvency-and-evaporation mechanism, minus the ammonia fumes. The tradeoff data point that matters most: this formula is USDA Certified Biobased, meaning a lab-tested percentage of the carbon in the active ingredients comes from renewable plant material rather than petroleum feedstock, which conventional formulas don't measure or disclose at all. Streak-free performance on glass and stainless steel is comparable in practice, but you're not opening windows or holding your breath while spraying it.

What does Benzisothiazolinone do in the formula, and is it something to worry about?
Benzisothiazolinone is a preservative used at very low concentrations (typically under 0.1% in household cleaners) to prevent bacterial and fungal growth in the water-based solution once the bottle is opened and exposed to air repeatedly. Without a preservative, a water-and-alcohol formula like this one would be vulnerable to microbial contamination over months of use, especially with a spray trigger reintroducing air into the bottle each time. It's one of the most common preservatives in green-labeled cleaners because it's effective at low doses and has a well-established safety profile for surface-contact (non-ingested) products. It's not a fragrance, dye, or bleach component — its only job is shelf stability.

Is this safe to use in a house with kids or pets?
Yes, that's a large part of the point of the Free & Clear formulation: no ammonia, no bleach, no synthetic fragrance, and no added dyes, so there's no harsh residue or fume exposure for kids or pets who touch glass surfaces or lie near freshly cleaned windows and shower doors. Because it contains no chlorine or ammonia, there's also no risk of the toxic chloramine gas that can form if bleach and ammonia-based products are accidentally mixed under the sink. As with any cleaning product, keep it out of reach of small children and let treated surfaces dry before pets rub against them, but no special ventilation or wait time is required after spraying.

Can I use this on surfaces besides windows and mirrors?
Yes — the same alcohol-and-surfactant formula that gives a streak-free finish on glass works well on stainless steel appliances, glass shower doors, glass-top stoves, and chrome fixtures. It's not formulated as a heavy-duty degreaser, so for baked-on kitchen grease or soap scum buildup you'll get better results with a dedicated degreaser or bathroom cleaner first, then this for the final streak-free pass. Spray directly on the surface and wipe with a microfiber cloth or lint-free paper towel; a dry microfiber pass afterward eliminates streaks on very reflective surfaces like black stainless.

What does USDA Certified Biobased actually mean, and how can I verify it?
USDA Certified Biobased is a federal labeling program administered through the USDA BioPreferred Program, which requires manufacturers to submit products for third-party lab testing (ASTM D6866 carbon-dating analysis) to verify the percentage of the product's carbon content that comes from renewable biological sources rather than petroleum. Products must meet a minimum biobased content threshold set for their category to carry the label, and the certified percentage is registered in USDA's public catalog, which you can look up by product name. This is a meaningfully stricter standard than unregulated marketing terms like 'natural' or 'plant-based,' which have no legal definition or testing requirement in the cleaning products category.

Why doesn't this product have a scent, and is that a sign it's not working as well?
The Free & Clear formulation intentionally omits synthetic fragrance and dyes, which are two of the most common triggers for skin and respiratory sensitivity in household cleaners. Scent has no bearing on cleaning performance — it's added purely for sensory association, and its absence here doesn't change the alcohol-and-surfactant mechanism doing the actual grease-cutting and evaporation work. What you'll notice instead is a faint, quickly-dissipating alcohol smell during application that clears within a minute or two as the product evaporates off the glass, leaving no lingering scent behind either way.

How should I store this, and does it lose effectiveness over time?
Store the bottle at room temperature out of direct sunlight, since UV exposure and heat can gradually degrade the alcohol content and reduce evaporation performance over very long storage periods. Because there are no oils or waxes in the formula to separate or go rancid, you won't see the settling or clouding that some natural cleaners develop with age. As with most water-and-alcohol cleaning solutions, it's best used within about two years of purchase for peak streak-free performance, though the preservative system keeps it microbially stable well beyond that.