Written by Gorgeous Things Founder, Lesley-Ann Trow
This Clean & Green article appears in the Spring Edition of Eco Living Magazine
Chemical Free Cleaning
We’ve all experienced how tough it can be to clean our bathrooms without gassing ourselves. Anyone who uses traditional household cleaners knows you’ve got to wear gloves, open the windows and scrub whilst holding your breath. This experience should tell us a few things about traditional household cleaners, and not least that they’re having a negative impact on our health while also being damaging to the environment.
If you’re looking to make your household cleaning safer for yourself and the environment then there’s a few options available to you. The first step is to safely discard the chemical cocktail in your cleaning cupboard.
The health concerns stem from absorption of harsh chemicals directly through your skin and nasal passages to your bloodstream as well as Volatile Organic Compounds that are found in petrochemical based cleaning products and synthetic fragrances and are released into the atmosphere as you spray your cleaners around your home. If you or your children have asthma or you have allergies then these VOCs could be aggravating symptoms.
It’s not hard to imagine what the world will be like if we don’t address our polluting of waterways and ground water. No one wants to be responsible for making the problem worse but as Leroy Eldridge Cleaver put it – ‘you’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem’ and we all have to do our bit in our own homes today. That means switching to products that are 100% biodegradable (truly green products will tell you how many days this will take – 7 is good!), buying Phosphate Free cleaners and avoiding chemicals where there is a natural alternative.
You can then take the ‘back to basics’ approach and use simple ingredients to create your own cleaners and a bit of elbow grease. This is a great alternative if you have the time and patience. From Lemon Juice and Baking Soda for scrubbing down benches, chopping boards and bathrooms right through to Vinegar to clean your windows, there’s a natural alternative to pretty much everything you find under your sink. There are recipes you can following in fabulous books like ‘Spotless’ by Shannon Lush & Jennifer Flemming or even a quick Google search will have you cleaning up an environmentally friendly storm in no time.
The other way to go, which is the option I’ve chosen in my home is to use household cleaning products that have been formulated to be kind to you and have minimal impact on the environment. Not only does this option save time and effort but in most cases the ready made cleaning products smell much better. In some cases so much so that you’ll never need to use anything else to scent your home. These greener household cleaning products will give you all the information you need on the label. They’ll tell you if it’s a plant-based surfactant, if the fragrance in naturally derived, how many days it will take to biodegrade and if it contain phosphates.
A few brands to look out for in the Supermarket or your Health Food store are Seventh Generation – great product imported from the US, Cinderella – my favourite as they smell divine and are Aussie Made, BEE – amazing Laundry Liquid & Dr Bronners – the ultimate All Purpose Castile Soap. If you have allergies or sensitive skin, you’ll notice the difference immediately.
A growing number of Americans are seeking so-called green cleaners — products made with natural, nontoxic, and biodegradable ingredients. Some of these cleaners promise that they contain natural (instead of synthetic) agents, break down quickly in the environment, or pose less of a toxic threat to humans and ecosystems. But critics caution that just because the ingredients in green cleaners are plant-based or natural doesn’t necessarily mean they’re safe.
Although green cleaners may purport to list all ingredients, the market is largely unregulated — which means consumers still must be wary of what’s in the bottle. Even cleaning products labeled “natural” may contain some fraction of synthetic chemicals. Or they may contain natural ingredients consumers would rather avoid, such as petroleum distillates, some of which can cause cancer. And just because a cleaning product is biodegradable and made from plant-based sources doesn’t mean that it is without potential adverse effects on health.
Plant-based ingredients included in some green cleaners include limonene (a citrus-based oil), pine oil, and the foaming agent coconut diethanolamide — all of which can cause allergic dermatitis. And a recent study of natural and nontoxic consumer products found the suspected cancer-causing chemical 1,4-dioxane in roughly half of 100 tested products — including several dishwashing liquids with words such as “Earth friendly” and “eco” in their brand names.
Consumer advocates have pressed for stricter labeling rules, but the industry has resisted, arguing that long lists of ingredients would create a distraction on product labels, drawing attention away from important safety information. To combat this, Europe has rolled out new restrictions on manufacturers of products containing chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. These changes are forcing U.S. industries to find new ways to produce a wide range of everyday products. The new laws in the European Union require companies to demonstrate that a chemical is safe before it enters commerce. This is the opposite of policies in the United States, where regulators must prove that a chemical is harmful before it can be restricted or removed from the market. The European laws were adamantly opposed by the U.S. chemical industry and the Bush administration.
A recent survey showed that 80% of Americans still believe that the cleaning products they use in their homes are still safe!! These are probably the same people that ask for MSDS sheets and protective gloves and masks when asked to use a chemical at work. Wake up, why are we quick to blame our employers but yet in our homes we feel we are safe??? Asthma is up, cancer is still an epidemic and just look at the life expectancy of someone who cleans hotel rooms all day every day. If my memory serves me correctly, the Europeans did a 15 year study that came out in 2004 that found a woman who works in their own home has a 60% higher chance of getting breast cancer, hence these new regulations. The problem is not that any one cleaner is safe or not, what happens when you mix them all together? How did we get to this point….my mom cleaned with just one product….now we’ve been brainwashed to believe we need 10 different products to clean all the different surfaces in our homes, and don’t even let me go on about deodorizers. Now these same companies are coming out with ‘green’ cleaners and making us believe that because they are plant-based or enzyme-based makes them safe…well then why do they still have CAUTION written all over the bottle! Let’s face it, we don’t smoke in our homes or workplaces anymore and we need this same type of legislation to make our homes free of cleaning chemicals.
Thanks for your comprehensive comment Dianne. Totally appreciate where you’re coming from on this issue & agree that labelling laws need to be tightened worldwide.
In regards to the companies & products listed in my article on safe cleaning, I’ve been careful to mention only those products & companies that are ‘true green’ and very concerned with the health of us humans and the planet.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your passion for making cleaning a safer activity.
I am really impressed with your posts. I completely agree with both of you that 1) we need to be more vigilant in the products we buy and use in our homes and 2) the industry is very unregulated and making the most of the Aussie “she’ll be right mate” attitude.
Having done some research into products I once used, by contacting companies and asking for the MSDS’, I am appalled at what is allowed onto our supermarket shelves.
I once used a body wash, the brand “Healthy basics” (I think…) and it’s main drawcard on the packaging was Aloe Vera and Vitamin E. When I researched the product I found that it contained Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate and Ammonium Laureth Sulfate which in addition to being a skin, eye and respiratory irritants, can may also be carcinogenic.
The list of potentially harmful ingredients went on – Tetrasodium EDTA , PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate , methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone and Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride. All of these ingredients carried some form of potentially acute or chronic side affects. Kind of overrides the fact that it has a drop of aloe vera in it!
As you have both mentioned the same goes for cleaning products. As mentioned in Lesley’s article baking soda and vinegar are winners for cleaning the house… my entire house is cleaned like this. Toilets, floors, benchtops. Also microfibre cloths are impressive. They range ridiculously in price. There is no need to pay in excess of $15 a cloth though… Good ones range around $10 and are very effective on all surfaces. They can hold up to 7 x their own weight in dirt and the fibres pick up the smallest of particles (whereas household rangs just move the dirt around).
In regards to laundry powders, dishwashing powder/liquid etc – I will only use products that list ingredients on the packaging and if I am unsure will contact the manufacturer for a copy of the MSDS. Although it is disappointing how hard these can be to track down some times.
Hi Naomi,
Thanks for visiting the Gorgeous Things blog and taking the time to share you thoughts on safe household cleaning.
That’s a good point about the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for cleaning products, we have these for our Cinderella cleaning range and you’ve prompted me to consider adding these as a download on our Online Shopping site >> http://www.gorgeousthings.com.au
Look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Cheers, LA
Yes, cleaning should not focus on harmful chemicals. Just look into your cupboard, there’s a lot of things you can use to clean. Examples: baking soda, vinegar even lemons!
Chemical free living is my passion so I welcome other people drawing attention to the health issues involved. Your tips are great! I write a blog to help people reduce the use of chemicals in their home. Please feel free to go to: http://chemicalfreehome.wordpress.com and share with friends.