Greening your cleaning
Regular home cleaning contributes to better health for your family and visitors. Many popular chemical-based cleaning products, however, contain powerful chemical toxins that may negatively affect human health. In an increasingly polluted world, a greater number of families strive to make our homes relatively safe havens in which our families thrive - not sources of toxic chemical loads.
Consumers and health officials have long ignored the dangers of conventional cleaning products. Clever marketing campaigns - not to mention memories of our mothers bleaching every hard surface in the home - promote the familiarity and effectiveness of conventional cleaning products. We’re often unaware of the many harmful ingredients in chemical-based formulas, and manufacturers frequently make ingredient labels inconspicuous. Luckily, growing interest in healthy living has resulted in a large number of new and effective eco-friendly cleaning solutions.
Green cleaning products are non-toxic, biodegradable, and chemical free. Additionally, many solutions are kosher-certified, hypo-allergenic, and not tested on animals. Natural product companies like Seventh Generation and Method, unlike many conventional manufacturers, disclose all of their ingredients. Compared to chemical-based cleaners, the benefits of natural cleaning solutions to humans, pets, and the environment are enormous. It doesn’t save us time or money to use conventional cleaning products instead of natural solutions, but we certainly may pay a price later in life from chronic exposure to household chemicals.
Thankfully, finding affordable and effective green-cleaning products is as easy as visiting your nearest supermarket or drugstore. Top brands include Seventh Generation, Ecover, Method, and Mrs Meyers. Each of these brands offer different products and scents - but all are formulated with your (and the environment’s) health in mind. For example, industry leader Seventh Generation offers both all-purpose cleaners and products dedicated to kitchen or bathroom use.
Although we may be unable to fully protect ourselves from environmental toxins, reducing the chemical load in our homes is an important step in protecting our health and wellbeing. And with an impressive array of available eco-friendly cleaning products, we can easily create clean and green homes.
I've been using castille soap (Dr. Bronner's) for most of my cleaning for a while now, and have to say it works as well as the harsh chemicals, smells nicer, and doesn't irritate my asthma at all.
Since I use it for my bathing as well, I buy it in large containers. Sometimes I can find it in bulk at my local market, which allows me to re-use the original bottle. But even if I have to buy a new bottle, I feel better about that choice because their products come in a bottle made of recycled plastic.
And I've recently started added a tablespoon or so to my laundry when I wash my stinky workout clothes, and it works great at killing the lingering stink.
posted by madkat on 9/16/2008 11:43 am