By Geraldine Mills
Eco-consciousness is no longer a fad to a lot of people. Given the domino effect that humans have been at the receiving end of, we now know more about how our future must care for the environment.
Plus, it’s not that difficult to contribute to the betterment of our environment. It’s as simple as being more conscious of the cleaning products you use to clean your house.
Before you buy a cleaning product, here are six tips that will help you choose the most sustainable and eco-friendly ones.
1. Don’t Use Cleaners with Ammonia or Chlorine Bleach
One of the most significant benefits of using eco-conscious cleaning products is that they also are good for us.
We are using too many cleaning products in our home that are quite dangerous for people if they expose themselves to it for a certain period. If you have pets and children at home, it’s even more hazardous to use them.
Two of the most dangerous cleaning products that we use are bleach and ammonia. Together, these two can create a very toxic gas that can create respiratory systems and other body issues that we don’t want.
That’s why, as much as possible, you should avoid the use of ammonia or chlorine bleach for your cleaning needs. An excellent alternative to ammonia or chlorine, especially when cleaning your bathroom, would be baking soda and vinegar. You can also combine these to clean stainless steel surfaces in your home.
2. Make Sure the Product is Non-toxic
When you’re using a cleaner on surfaces that you use all the time, you have to ensure that it is non-toxic. Otherwise, you might be exposing yourself to chemicals and other elements that are harmful to your health.
Aside from that, when they evaporate into the air, you might even be breathing them in.
There are plenty of alternatives to cleaners like that. You can create an all-purpose cleaner on a spray bottle yourself if you can. There are also environment-friendly all-purpose cleaners available in stores nowadays.
Since they’re non-toxic, you won’t have to worry about them dissipating into the air or touching them often.
3. Grab Biodegradable Cleaning Tools
Aside from making your all-purpose cleaner, you can also find biodegradable cleaning tools.
There are plenty of wooden and natural cleaning tools available in the market today. Besides replacing your devices, you can try and look for cleaning solutions in biodegradable packaging.
You want your cleaning products and equipment to be biodegradable. That way, you can rest assured that they will break down and come back to the earth.
You can clean your home without adding to the non-biodegradable waste that humans produce all the time.
4. Ensure That it Works Even in Cold Water
Energy efficiency is another aspect of sustainable living that people tackle when they care for the environment.
In our day-to-day lives, we use a lot of energy. Most of the time, we’re using too many resources to generate energy that we probably can reduce.
One example is our need to use heated or warm water for cleaning.
Sometimes, you don’t need to use warm water. But according to Cleaning Exec Cleaning Services NYC, there are cleaning solutions that use warm water to reactivate the chemicals.
That’s the reason why you need to check if your chosen eco-friendly cleaning solution works even when in cold water.
Since you don’t have to use resources to heat water that you’re going to use for cleaning, you’re using less energy. You can apply this most, especially for when you’re doing laundry.
With your new laundry detergent, you don’t have to use the washing machine’s heating option to make it perform well.
5. Look for Aerosol-free Cleaners
One other cleaning product that you should avoid are cleaning products that come in aerosol cans.
Aerosol cans, to operate the way they do, use a gas that is usually CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons, to propel the solution. The CFCs aren’t toxic to humans, but that doesn’t mean they don’t harm the environment.
The CFCs in your cleaning solution do significant damage to our ozone layer. There have been studies that prove this to be the case. If the ozone layer has a hole in it, we have more exposure to the sun’s harmful rays.
With that said, avoiding aerosol cleaners is the best way to go.
6. Be Mindful of the Packaging
We briefly mentioned the importance of packaging using biodegradable cleaning products. You don’t want to be contributing to the manufacturing of plastics more than you need them.
That’s why mindful packaging should come with your cleaning product. This is part of making eco-conscious decisions.
Some eco-conscious businesses have products that come in no packaging at all. Some use biodegradable packaging. Others come in reusable containers and incentivize their customers to reuse these containers.
If a company or a business is careful enough about their packaging, they’re probably worth supporting.
Conclusion
Knowing how you use your cleaning products and replacing the ones you use is a gradual but straightforward change that you can incorporate in your life. Even though it’s quite simple, it has quite a massive effect on the environment’s state.
If you value being environment-friendly, try and apply the tips listed above when buying your cleaning products.
More from Geraldine Mills
- Ways to Be a Sustainable Traveler During Your Beach Holiday
- Go Green: 9 Energy Saving Tips for a More Eco-Friendly Home
- 7 Ways to Encourage Your Employees to be Eco-Conscious
- How to be Kind to the Environment on Your Next Hiking Adventure
About the Author
Geraldine Mills is a self-confessed wanderlust from the land down under, Australia! She funds her adventures by working as a brand consultant and as a travel writer. She loves sharing the allure of backpacking and being one with nature.