Home Improvement Products
Many home improvement products have animal ingredients in them, and this can be a problem for those people trying to create a vegan environment at home. It's often hard to tell which home improvement products have animal ingredients and which do not because unlike with food products manufacturers of home improvement products are not required to list all ingredients on the label.
Some manufacturers will include a "no animal ingredients" label on their products, but consumers should be aware that this label does not guarantee independent verification. It also doesn't mean that the product hasn't been tested on animals. A good source of information on this topic is the Vegan Society's Animal Free Shopper directory. Some examples of common household tools which include animal ingredients are hammers, knives and carpentry tools which frequently use real leather in their handles.