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Home > Resources > 3Rs Lifestyle > Good Clean Fun

Good, Clean Fun—
How to clean your house without hurting the planet

The spring equinox is fast approaching, and soon (we hope) we can all throw open our windows and let the March breezes blow winter away. And it's about time: Levels of pollutants in indoor air can be from two to more than 100 times higher than outdoors, according to the U.S. EPA. That indoor pollution is due in large part to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that evaporate, or "offgas," from home decorating and cleaning products.

So step one for spring cleaners is: Open a window and let those pollutants out! Yet even in this season, when a vase of daffodils can fill a room with a lovely natural scent, many consumers stubbornly keep using synthetic room fresheners and fragranced cleaning products that are full of VOCs and other toxic chemicals. These can make our indoor air unhealthy, provoke skin, eye, and respiratory reactions, and harm the natural environment. Take those so-called air fresheners. According to a study published in New Scientist in 1999, in homes where aerosol sprays and air fresheners were used frequently, mothers experienced 25 percent more headaches and were 19 percent more likely to suffer from depression, and infants under six months of age had 30 percent more ear infections and a 22 percent higher incidence of diarrhea.

David Steinman, coauthor of The Safe Shopper's Bible, advises looking at labels for specific, eco-friendly ingredients that also perform effectively. These include grain alcohol instead of toxic butyl cellosolve as a solvent; coconut or other plant oils rather than petroleum in detergents; and plant-oil disinfectants such as eucalyptus, rosemary, or sage rather than triclosan. You can also mix your own cleaners, as does Annie Berthold-Bond, green living editor at www.care2.com. According to Berthold-Bond, a few safe, simple ingredients such as plain soap, water, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), vinegar, washing soda (sodium carbonate), lemon juice, and borax can satisfy most household cleaning needs -- and save you money at the same time.

See http://www.grist.org/advice/possessions/2003/03/18/possessions-cleaning/index.html to get the dirt on various conventional products and ingredients and their eco-friendly alternatives. With a little effort, you can make your home a truly clean haven rather than a chemical storage tank. And remember: when it comes to spring cleaning, less is definitely more!

  [Adapted from www.grist.org and The Green Guide in February 2007 WasteWatch]

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