I recently subscribed to a free magazine called ‘Granville’, a magazine about sustainable city living. I received my first issue yesterday and the cover article was entitled ‘Addicted To Clean: The Dirt on Green Cleaners’. I was instantly hooked. Reducing my carbon footprint and being frugal oftentimes go hand in hand - for example, I’ve started turning my computer off at night in order to save money on our electric bill…which in turn reduces the amount of energy that must be produced.
Oddly enough, in the past few days I’ve been thinking a lot about how what I put down the drain affects the environment and had no idea where to start as far as reducing the pollution I create simply by washing a load of underpantaloons, or doing a sinkful of dirty dishes. My fancy schmancy magazine came just at the right time!
I must add though that I found it odd that a magazine devoted to sustainable living prints their magazine on glossy paper, which is not recyclable…They do use recycled paper though, so that’s a nod in their direction. Anyway…I do like the magazine (so far) so I’ll ensure that I pass the mag along rather than toss it out when I’m done with it. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, right?
The article really opened up my eyes, and in some cases, hit a little closer to home than I was comfortable with, especially since we have a baby in the house.
One of the introductory points states that we associate dirt with evil, and we all know that cleanliness is next to Godliness, therefore we have been trained to believe that in order to be a good woman (or man, c’mon equality!), our home must be clean…and of course only things that are bad for the environment (eg. poisonous, toxic) can clean well enough to meet our standards. An unclean home simply must be a sign of laziness and poverty! It’s utterly sinful to have even a slightly dirty home!
The main problem, as the article goes on, is getting the consumers to give green cleaners a chance. It claims that until the consumer knows the cleaning product will do the same job as the product they’ve been using for years and years, they generally won’t try the green cleaner. It’s a catch-22, really. How can you find out if the green cleaner will work as well as your usual cleaner if you don’t try it? But you don’t want to spend money on something that you aren’t sure will work as well as your go-to product. One of the solutions to this problem is to get companies to publish the ‘ingredients’ of the product right on the bottle, similar to how food and beverage companies have to publish their nutritional information. If consumers were more aware of the ‘dirty ingredients’ in cleaners they use on a regular basis, I’m willing to bet more people would be buying green.
The article was tremendously helpful in launching my efforts to change the way I clean. My cleaning cupboard includes:
PineSol - the primary ingredients are pine oil, surfactants, and isopropanol (rubbing alcohol). There are also minor amounts of alkyl alcohol ethoxylates, however when I Googled that phrase, the article that came up stated they were readily biodegradable.
Bleach - also known as sodium hypochlorite, which, if you took any Chemistry classes in high school you’ll recognize as NaOCl from the Periodic Table of Elements. If you use bleach, you probably already know that it’s quite corrosive, capable of burning skin and as I’ve discovered, eating holes in clothing. Mixing bleach with other cleaners can also be dangerous…depending on what you are tossing it in with, you can create chlorine gas, oxygen gas or chloramines…what’s your flavor?
Windex Glass Cleaner - lists an ingredient that made me cringe. The offender? 2-Butoxyethanol. My magazine gave this description: …it can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and may cause blood disorders, as well as liver and kidney damage, and may also cause reproductive damage on long term exposure. Other ingredients are isopropanol (rubbing alcohol), water, and ethylene glycol n-hexyl ether which is a mild bacteria killer.
Sunlight Laundry Detergent - the only detergent in Canada that still contains trisodium nitrilotriacetate (and no, I can’t pronounce it without sounding like a 6 year old trying to say purr-penn-dic-you-lurr), a possible human carcinogen and an ingredient that basically gives the finger to sewage treatment systems which are based on letting heavy metals settle to the bottom. Trisodium nitrilotriactetate causes the heavy metals to remobilize and therefore go back into the waste stream.
Bounce Dryer Sheets - Urgh. Another scary one. The description of dryer sheets as given by Wikipedia is that they coat the surface of the cloth fibers with a thin layer of chemicals which have lubricant properties, making the fabric feel smoother. My box of Bounce actually has a super teeny tiny warning on one of the sides of the box stating that it reduces the flame resistance of fabric therefore it should especially not be used on children’s items or any other garments that are flame resistant. As I write this I’m actually scared to hunt around for the ingredients. The only two ingredients listed on the actual box are biodegradable cationic softeners and perfume. So I generalized my search, and found that dryer sheets can cause central nervous system disorders, headaches, irritation of the mucuous membranes and respiratory system, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, liver or kidney damage, skin disorders, even cancer.
Ultra Downy Free & Sensitive Fabric Softener - same ingredients as the dryer sheets, with same negative effects.
Now before you label me paranoid, keep in mind that some of these problems can take years to affect you. Although…as an FYI - I had my Bounce sheets right beside me the entire time I was writing this post and I actually felt mildly irritated…my eyes were burning a bit and my nose felt almost raw from inhaling the perfume of it. And it had only been about an hour! Just something to ponder, anyway. If you have small children in the house, it’s probably a good idea to refrain from using these ‘dirty’ cleaners and give some serious thought to either making your own household cleaners (I’ll post about that soon) or giving some of the following green cleaners a try:
Aspen Clean
Bio-Life
Nature Clean
Pink Solution
Sapadilla
V.I.P.
Nellie’s Laundry
I will definitely be making a switch when it comes to my cleaning products - then I won’t feel so dirty when I’m trying to get clean.
