Claire's Eco Store - Green Cleaning

Green cleaning is using cleaning methods and products that uses environmentally-friendly ingredients by avoiding uses of chemically reactive and toxic cleaning products, some of which emit volatile organic compounds (organic chemical compounds that have significant vapour pressures, causing damage to the environment and human health) that causes respiratory and dermatological problems, as well as other negative effects. Green cleaning also involves packaging that is biodegradable.

It may be obviously simple to immediately lunge at great looking products that annihilate everything in their path, but if you think, there are loads of other products our there that do the same, smell nice with toxic side-effects not included. Here are some points on how to stay clean:

• Use green cleaning products that use biodegradable packaging, non-toxic products and made from renewable resources.
• Open windows to let toxins out and keep fresh air coming in, as the air inside the house is often more toxic than the air outside.
• Many people find antibacterial and antimicrobial ‘cleaners’ necessary, but they aren’t any more affective than simple soap and water: in fact, these special cleaners are known to breed ‘super-germs’ which is bacteria that can survive chemical onslaughts and breed resistant offspring.
• Instead of buying shop-bought air fresheners, try boiling cinnamon, cloves, fresh chocolate chip cookies and other herbs you like the smell off. They may not fill the air with full flavour smells, but plants also help to filter the air.
• If you need to replace you’re cleaning products, don’t throw the old ones away: if they’re too toxic to keep in your house, they won’t do the drain any good either. Instead, there are areas that have toxics and electronics recycling days. If you decide to dump them in your bin or down the drain, there is a possibility that they could end up back in your water supply and come back to haunt you back through your drains.