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Green cleaners

Sustainable living  ›  Healthy home  ›  Green cleaners

Save money, protect your family and the environment by using safe, simple ingredients to clean your home.

Many of the products we buy to care for our homes include ingredients that can be harmful to people and the environment. What can you do? You can choose less-toxic products to clean your home. Doing that can protect your family and the environment. You’ll also save money by using some simple, safe ingredients to make your own cleaners.

Green cleaning options

Check out these cleaning recipes and tips to help you create a safer home:

• Ingredients to use in making less-toxic cleaners.
• General cleaners: recipes for all-purpose cleaners, glass cleaner, disinfectants and hand cleaners.
• Laundry: soap, fabric softeners, deodorizers, bleaches, stain removers and moth repellants.
• Bathroom: tub, tile and toilet cleaners.
• Floor and carpets: carpet cleaners and deodorizers, stain removers, floor cleaners and heel mark remover.
• Kitchen: dish cleaners, drain and disposal cleaners, deodorizers, oven cleaners and polishes.
• Living room: furniture polish, wood and leather cleaners.
• Other less-toxic household tips: control indoor pests, clean driveways and sidewalks, light charcoal, remove rust, dry out damp areas and clean walls. Less toxic glues, paint and paint strippers.
• Shopping tips: purchasing less toxic products at the store.
• Learn more about safer products: additional resource materials for safer household and gardening products.

Why clean green?

The Environmental Protection Agency identifies six reasons to clean green.

Skin irritation

Some ready-to-use cleaning products may contain chemicals that will cause redness or swelling of skin.

Air pollution

Products may contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can cause irritation of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, cause asthma attacks, and contribute to smog. Many state and local authorities restrict the use of VOCs.

Fragrances

Stick to natural odors in cleaning agents, as in a citrus-based cleaner. Fragrances added to improve odor or to mask an offensive odor have little cleaning value. Many may be harmful to your health and create indoor air pollution.

Dyes

Like fragrances, avoid unnecessary dyes. Consider the basic principle of pollution prevention: avoid unnecessary additives.

Reduced/recyclable packaging

Packaging makes up 17 percent of the garbage stream. When purchasing your cleaning products, choose products that are minimally packaged or packaged in recyclable materials.

Exposure to concentrates

Take care with concentrated products. While concentration can reduce the use of packaging and other resources, concentrated products can pose a greater health and pollution risk than a ready-to-use product.

Related Documents

• Green cleaners brochure 688K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2012
• Hazardless home handbook 868K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published June 1, 2006

Related Internet links

• EPA fact sheet: Safer Alternatives Around the Home

  (http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/wycd/catbook/alt.htm)

• Washington Toxics Coalition

  (http://www.watoxics.org)

• Oregon DEQ

  (http://www.deq.state.or.us)

• NIH Database: Health and Safety of Household Products

  (http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/index.htm)