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Abandon complex chemicals, protect your health with non-toxic cleaning products — and spend less

By Andrea Fox
Green Quick Fixes
Published: July 23, 2008

Creating a world of toxic goo is a popular fear, the subject of futuristic entertainment and a prominent worry of those who act politically to prevent environmentally-toxic disasters from becoming widespread reality.

Regardless of your opinions on chemicals in the marketplace, allowing our environment, natural resources and our health to be tainted by an array of chemicals created and released by man is a valid social concern.

Since World War II a chemical revolution has occurred, spawning an array of products. In 1977, the Toxic Substances Control Act was passed to oversee chemical development and review the potential toxicity of new compounds before they are presented to the populace and the environment. Grandfathered from review and oversight are more than 60,000 chemicals that are woven into the fabric of U.S. society.

A promising note is that the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency are collaborating on a methods validation and analysis project that the agencies hope will both establish a new, more cost-effective toxicity testing methodology (which relies on cellular biological lab investigations amped by computer technology), and yield copious data on thousands of chemicals. The project will study how various compounds disturb human biochemistry and cause disease.

Over time, many chemicals have been studied independently by researchers and are known to have effects on family health, public health, water resources, air quality, and soil condition.

Chemicals enter the environment via drainage from plumbing and public sewer system overflows, runoff from surfaces and roads, and leakage from underground waste conveyance and storage systems. In the body, compounds with similar molecular makeup assimilate right one's our endocrine system or accumulate in fatty tissues, through the air and on contact.

After doing research, I learned that petrochemicals and petroleum-based chemicals, even in minute quantities, slide into skin and fat cells and build-up over time. Decades later, when they encounter other chemicals they could be even more destructive. Skin can become more permeable because of them. Chemicals inhaled invade the blood stream, once transferred from the lungs. They can be absorbed in the digestive tract. They disrupt reproduction and other endocrine and neurological functions. Finally, the ammonias, chlorines, ethers, ethanols, ethyl sulfates, benzyl ammonium chlorides, various penta-hopped sodiums, and other unnamed "surfactants" and ingredients these modern cleaners contain are carcinogenic too.

How I became a mixologist

I have been using Earth-friendly hand soap, dishwashing liquid and, on occasion, laundry soap for a long time. But once I learned the dirty truth about my household cleaning products and that clear laundry detergent, which snared me with its clever advertising, I stopped cleaning cold turkey.

A bit of a build-up began to appear all over the house as I learned about, procured, and mixed my own new, natural germ, mildew, and dirt fighters. They are made from much more simple, though caustic and acidic, substances like hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice and citric acid powder, distilled white vinegar, club soda (sodium citrate), baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), washing soda (sodium percarbonate), oxygen bleach (a blend of sodium percarbonate and hydrogen peroxide), Borax (sodium borate), Castile soap, and essential oils like tea tree, lavender, and peppermint.

According to Jill Potvin's Schoff's "Green Up Your Cleanup," where I got my recipes and some of my methods, a good rule of thumb is acids (citric acid, sodium citrate or club soda, vinegar, etc.) address soap scum, rust, and germs, and lift water spots and stains; and basic cleaners (Castile soap, washing soda, baking soda, etc.) and address body oil, food stains, dirt, and grime. They are chemicals also and not to be ingested and should be used carefully, but they will not invade your fat glands, lymph nodes, or enter your bloodstream through inhalation.

Good, low cost green products

These old-fashioned cleaners definitely do the job. They don't make me feel light-headed, they lack that disconcerting residue, and there isn't that overbearing chemical smell in the air. They are just as easy to use as those modern, pricey cleaners, and the cost is reasonable.

I invested about $30 in reusable spray bottles and containers; mixing spoons; a good, comfortable corner scrub brush; drain haircatchers, etc., and I spent $30 on the ingredients from which I can remake all the products I need several times over. The one-time cost for those I put to rest was about $45. And a bonus: there is much less to recycle.

The low-down and dirty

To clean and disinfect your bathroom and kitchen the non-toxic way, first, gear up with gloves, a breathing mask, goggles, and reusable containers and mix your products. Though the items in your recipe will be non-toxic (external exposure), they are caustic and/or abrasive, so use caution.

Second, set up your bucket, cotton rags, a good sponge, corner scrub brush, knee cushion, and a microfiber dust cloth and dive in.

Bath and kitchen non-toxic quick fixes

For the toilet, use a glass cleaner made with vinegar, water, and Castile soap and scrub inside and out. On plastic seats, you'll get that first dirt layer. On deeper stains, use a soft scrub made from baking soda and Castile soap. For deeper stains on the inside of the bowl, gently scrub with a pumice stone (presoaked in water for 15 minutes). I finished with a mildew remover/disinfectant made from tea tree oil and water, and my bowl is again pure white. For good measure, I gave my toilet brush a little spray of vinegar before placing back in its holder.

To attack the tub (mine is made of old enameled cast iron), start with the vinegar spray to kill red and green molds and other germs, then rinse and move onto the baking soda soft scrub and get out your scrub brush. A knee pad will support you as you muscle through the job. For deeper stains, make an oxygen bleach paste with a little water and let sit for 30 minutes.

I use a white plastic hair catcher to prevent clogged bath drains because the metal ones rust so quickly. To get off the soap scum, soak it in vinegar. To get off oils, soak it in baking soda. A little oxygen bleach may help whiten it, but the flexible plastic will jaundice over time.

For clogged drains, there are many methods using plungers and hoses connected to nearby spigots that will clear obstructions without the use of any chemicals.

To clean the chrome drain covers, tub chains, and mixer valves, use the glass cleaner and scrub with a toothbrush. If there is mildew, spray directly with hydrogen peroxide.

To clean mildew from a rubber tub stopper, I tried the vinegar-based glass cleaner, tea tree disinfectant and hydrogen peroxide. The latter worked the best. Also, the stopper, tub chain and overflow drain set are standard and are inexpensive to replace.

Soak handheld plastic showerheads in baking soda and use your scrub brush or toothbrush in crevices. Soak metal showerheads in vinegar and scrub.

To clean plastic shower caddies and walls, try an all purpose surface cleaner made with Borax, water and Castile soap. Use vinegar spray on tile and scrub grout with baking soda soft scrub and a toothbrush. Use hydrogen peroxide for mildew.

The all-purpose surface cleaner with Borax works well for laminated cabinets, quick cleanups on countertops and sinks, kitchen appliances, and the range top.

After getting the initial grime off my bathroom's plastic laminate sink with vinegar spray, I used the baking soda soft scrub and it shined brilliantly. For deeper stains, I used a paste of baking soda. To remove a spot of dye, the oxygen bleach paste was more effective.

At the kitchen sink, oxygen bleach took the stains out of the old enameled cast iron sink. For stainless steel and ceramic, baking soda works as well as conventional bleach powders. Use the vinegar spray or tea tree spray for germs.

On sink faucets and mirrors, I used the vinegar-based glass cleaner. I thought there may be streaks because there is a tad of Castile soap in the mixture I made and there appears to be a slight white film when you wipe down, but it dried streak free.

For vinyl, laminate, and tile floors a mixture of hot water, baking soda and Castile will lift dirt and clean baseboards easily. To disinfect around toilets first use the vinegar-based glass cleaner or tea tree disinfectant. On true linoleum, use vinegar or Castile soap because alkaline mixtures will damage them.

For wood floors, sweep and dry mop. A slightly damp mop using mixture of hot water, baking soda and Castile will clean up grime.

Everything I needed I could pick up in a three-town radius; however there are numerous resources online. There are also companies and alternative markets that sell similar non-toxic products. They are available at specialty and department stores locally, as well as online.

Andrea Fox, a Beverly resident, has been writing about environmental sustainability and eco-topics for eight years. She is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and a watershed protection advocate here in Salem Sound Watershed.