This is a sponsored guest post.
When you reach for your traditional cleaning products for a routine scrub of the bathroom sink, you may not realise what you’re exposing yourself to. A lot of your traditional household cleaners contain asthma-inducing compounds and some even include carcinogenic ingredients. Eek! Those toxic ingredients are a big no no from us.
But what’s the alternative? Introducing – green cleaners. Natural cleaning has been around since the beginning of time, being used in the home or at the office by commercial cleaners like Cleanfocus. But over the last few years, it’s hit the mainstream market as a viable alternative to traditional cleaners. Before we dive into the truth about natural cleaning products, we think you ought to know exactly what’s in the spray bottles you’ve got under your kitchen counter.
The dirty on traditional cleaning products
You might be wondering what’s actually in traditional cleaning products that make them so toxic. Well, a lot of them contain harmful chemicals that could be hurting your family’s health and the environment. Some of these ingredients include:
- Ammonia – found in polishing agents and glass cleaner. Ammonia is a powerful irritant that can cause breathing issues.
- Chlorine – found in scouring powders, toilet cleaners and laundry whiteners. In large doses, chlorine can be a respiratory irritant.
- Perchloroethylene or “PERC” – a neurotoxin and possible carcinogen that can be found in dry-cleaning solutions, spot removers and carpet and upholstery cleaners.
- Triclosan – found in most liquid dishwashing detergents and hand soaps labelled “antibacterial.” Triclosan is an aggressive antibacterial agent that can encourage the growth of drug-resistant bacteria.
- Phthalate – found in fragranced household products like air fresheners, soap or even toilet paper. Phthalate contains endocrine disruptors that can interfere with the endocrine (or hormone) systems.
What are natural cleaning products?
Natural cleaning products are the safer alternative to these nasty traditional cleaning solutions. Natural simply means that they do not contain any toxic ingredients. Some people may classify these products as those that are made with baking soda, vinegar and lemons. However, many manufacturers sell natural cleaning products that have also been made in an environmentally safe way. Overall, the hallmarks of natural cleaning products are that they are efficient, safe, environmentally friendly, and good for your wellbeing.
Natural cleaning products get the job done
There’s a common misconception that natural cleaning solutions don’t work as well as traditional cleaning products. But that couldn’t be further than the truth. Natural cleaning products can work just as well and, in some cases, even better than chemical-filled ones. In fact, if you look back 50 years ago, most people used vinegar to shine their windows and bicarbonate of soda to clean their saucepans and pans. The effectiveness hasn’t changed. But since then, manufacturers have created and sold tens of thousands of chemical-filled products.
You can buy them at your local supermarket
When you think of ‘natural cleaning products’ your first thought might be that they are something you’re going to have to make by hand with lemon juice and vinegar. While you can take the DIY route, you certainly don’t have to. It’s more than likely that your local supermarket has a great range of natural cleaning products. Coles and Woolworths stock Organic Choice and Australian-owned-and-run brand ecostore, with everything from air freshener to dishwashing liquid to bathroom and shower spray. Natural cleaning doesn’t have to be reserved for the home. Especially now that sanitisation cleaning is very important, If you have cleaners at work or at home, it might be well worth asking them if they can use natural cleaning products too.
They are safe for kids and pets
Choosing natural cleaning products is choosing to put your family’s health first. There’s nothing worse than when a child or beloved family pet has a terrible reaction to eating or licking something toxic. As a parent, you don’t need the added stress of whether this will happen every time you clean the house. Avoid these awful experiences by using natural cleaning products that don’t contain any of the nasties.
They are better for the environment
Manufacturers of traditional cleaning products often use ingredients from non-renewable sources like petroleum, which negatively impacts the environment. On the other hand, most green cleaning manufacturers make their products in a sustainable way, and use biodegradable ingredients that don’t hurt the environment.
Of course it can take a little bit of time to get your head around making the change to natural cleaning products. But once you do, you’ll be glad! The next time you head into the supermarket to purchase your cleaning products, you can be confident that you’re not only making a positive choice for the environment but that you’re protecting the people who matter the most – your family.
