Green up your cleanup!

Our Holistic Moms Network meeting tonight is over green cleaners. I think the two most common excuses for using the traditional toxic cleaning products are that they work better and if they were actually so bad for your health then they would be illegal. Well, natural cleaning products work just as well and sometimes better and yes, the amount of actual harmful ingredients in any given cleaning product is small. But, and it's a big BUT, the effects are cumulative. Toxins build up in our systems to create the "body burden." The American Cancer Society estimates that 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women who are residents of the U.S. will develop cancer at some point in his or her lifetime!  

Why go green when it comes to cleaning?

The number one reason is your children! Children are much more sensitive to chemicals in the environment. They frequently put their hands and other objects in their mouth that have come in contact with toxins. Children are less able to detoxify and excrete toxins that get into their systems. Children are undergoing rapid development and many chemicals can disrupt their organ systems.

The environmental impact is the other reason. Depletion of our natural resources, indoor and outdoor air pollution, habitat destruction, and water pollution all occur every time you purchase and use traditional toxic cleaning products. For instance, in 2007 a BP oil refinery was allowed to dump significantly more ammonia and “suspended solids” into Lake Michigan, horrible!

FYI: In the U.S. there is almost no regulation of the cleaning chemicals used in the home. Manufactures do test their products individually. The problem is that when you clean, you use more than one product at a time crating unsafe levels of a particular ingredient. When some chemicals are mixed they become much more toxic, and this could occur in a stream or in your body from absorption or inhalation, yikes!

How do you green up your cleanup?

Ditch the hazardous cleaning product! Get rid of anything with a big scary WARNING label. Do not throw them away though because that defeats the purpose. Visit www.earth911.org to find a household cleaner disposal facility near you.

Next you can decide whether you want to make your own cleaners or purchase some all natural cleaners.

To make your own all you need are a few basic ingredients to start with: baking soda, liquid soap such as castile soap or eco-friendly dish soap, washing soda (Borax), white distilled vinegar, and some essential oils. Most of these things can be found at a regular grocery store but most definitely at a health food store and all of them are very inexpensive. There is tons of cleaning solution recipes on the internet.

If you’re not quite ready to start making your own cleaning products, there are some great brands out there that offer some amazing products. Seventh Generation, J.R. Watkins, Bio-Kleen, Ecos, and Shaklee are just a few. I know Target carries a lot of Seventh Generation and Method stuff but I like to order mine in bulk sizes from the Frontier Wholesale co-op to save money and materials.

If you are interested learning more about green cleaners or just want to get connected with other holistic parents, come to our HMN meeting tonight at 6:30 pm in the north atrium of the Moore Medical Center. Our email is hmncentralok@yahoo.com.

P.S. Most of the information from this post plus some awesome cleaning solution recipes can be found in the book Green Up Your Cleanup by Jill Potvin Schoff.