Cleaning Nontoxic

Weekend Warrior

I’m greeted with kisses at the gate each evening I come home from work. The gate is not to a white picket fence or a rustic ranch; it’s the one my husband constructed to separate upstairs from downstairs in our split-level suburban home. You see, it’s not my husband or our three teenagers greeting me with such open affection. It is 200 pounds of wiggling, slobbering German Shorthair Pointers: Grendel, Bo and Anubis. Even a shorthair is a hairy dog, especially times three. They eat, tromp outside and pad about the upstairs, sharing life with my family. My kitchen is upstairs, too. It’s where the teenagers sit on the counter while I cook and my husband leaves his Red Wing boots. My house is a home; a dirty home that requires weekly deep cleaning. Therefore, I slip on the rubber gloves of the weekend warrior, battling dust bunnies and evil odors.  

Better Health

My warrior approach is fast and flawless. I can clean everything from a stone to a counter to a cradleboard to a toilet in mere hours. While my execution is spot on, my customary cleaners became suspect several years ago. I was at a local health fair when I first encountered my community’s eco-waste center. Flipping through their handbook I read how the center helps residents to properly dispose of weed-killer, antifreeze, mercury thermometers, kerosene and…household cleaners. For 15 years it had seemed normal for me to purchase such cleaners in the same shopping cart as my romaine lettuce and whole wheat bread. After all, millions of American households clean week after week with these substances. In fact, my county estimates that my neighbors and I are all storing on the average 3-10 gallons of hazardous household waste in our homes. Upon disposal we are to treat any left-over household cleaners as if it were battery acid. I am not to toss it in the trash, nor pour it down the drain, storm sewer or on the ground.  This booklet made me wonder if my bottle of shower cleaner was fit to be rinsed down the drain. If my cleaners are hazardous waste, what might they be doing to me in warrior mode? It never occurred to me that the cough I experienced after dusting was not due to dust, but rather my cleaner. Back then I didn’t know to read the labels beyond the prominent words like “shine” and “fresh.” I missed looking for the smaller signal words that sum up a product’s hazardous level: caution, warning, danger or poison. Look for them; they are the reason you have to dispose of these substances as hazardous waste. Neither did I understand the dangers of a niggling cough. Then, in 2001 my son was diagnosed with asthma. His only symptom: a tickle of a cough before bedtime, similar to the one I experienced after dusting. While my wood cleaner merely warned of “caution” my own cough disappeared when I tossed out the offensive product (properly disposed of it, that is). 

Science of Cleaning

In 1991Laurie Brown opened up a Minneapolis store called Restore the Earth. Her most popular products were nontoxic cleaners. Inspired by the huge number of people who refilled at her store, Brown pioneered new technology with Refill Stations. This allows people to reuse their original bottles of Restore Products. In fact, since their introduction in 2001 the Refill Stations have kept more than 20 tons of plastics from local landfills. She even knows customers who still use their original bottles. Brown develops nontoxic cleaners according to science of cleaning. To effectively clean, products need one or a combination of the following:1. Surfactant—a substance to make water wetter to dissolve dirt2. Solvent—a substance to dissolve grease3. Acid—a substance to remove hard water deposits4. Alkaline—a substance to remove grease5. Enzyme—a substance to remove protein based stains Brown played around with the basic ingredients and gained vital feedback from a decade of store customers. She typically uses palm kernel oil in her detergents. For solvents and acids (which tend to be the most toxic of household cleaners) Brown uses nontoxic orange rind oil, soy solvent and citric acid. Soda ash is an alkaline she uses in her oven cleaner and plant enzymes are great spot removers.  

Tinkering

After my son was diagnosed with asthma, I tinkered with my own bit of cleaning science. Armed with the wisdom of Heloise and a recipe booklet from Dakota County I replaced all my household cleaners. My basic nontoxic cleaning pantry includes:1. Baking soda (alkaline)2. Borax (alkaline)3. Lemon/lemon juice (acid)4. Vinegar (acid)5. Vegetable based liquid soap (surfactant)These substances are cheap and the recipes simple. 4 tablespoons of baking soda dissolved in a quart of warm water is a basic all purpose cleaner.  ½ cup of borax dissolved in a gallon of boiling water creates an effective mold and mildew formula. Lemon juice cleans windows. Baking soda on the carpet before vacuuming is my salvation against pet odors.    One advantage of tinkering with nontoxic cleaners is that you can choose scents. Artificial scents are disruptive. Brown says that the goal is to smell fresh and clean so she intentionally leaves her Restore Products lightly scented. Scent in her products is merely a by-product of ingredients such as orange rind as a solvent. Lavender is one of my favorite cleaning scents and I simply add the essential oil to a sink full of Restore Dishwashing Soap when I am cleaning in the kitchen. My weekend warrior system is content with my combined use of homemade and purchased nontoxic cleaners. 

War on Germs

But what of dog drool and a busy kitchen? Like many people who first make the switch to nontoxic cleaners I realized that I no longer had the heavy arsenal to fight germs. We’ve been conditioned to think that the stronger the chemistry, the better the product will clean. As a manufacturer, Brown realizes that the more toxic a product, the cheaper the raw materials. She points out that most disinfectants are EPA rated insecticides. If that’s what you clean your kitchen counters with, so much for prepping your organic vegetables. Brown points out that 98% of all germs are removed by cleaning. In situations where it is necessary to disinfect Brown advises that it be done correctly. Instead of spraying and wiping, spray and let it sit for at least 5 minutes. That explains the wet table tops in restaurants. I’d like to think I get my return-home-kisses each evening because my home is a safe place for my dogs and kids. Although both are my reason for weekly deep cleaning, I am comforted by the knowledge that I use products and substances that do not require hazardous waste disposal, pollute the environment or make me cough.   

Works Cited 

Brown, Laurie Restore Products founder and CEO.  Personal Interview.  19 January 2007.   

Heloise. “Heloise.” New York, NY. The Putnum Publishing Group, 1990. 

Dakota County. “A Guide to Alternative Household Cleaners.” Dakota County Green Guide: www.co.dakota.mn.us/environ/GreenGuide