As consumer awareness about eco-friendly cleaning products increases, manufacturers are becoming more committed to delivering high-quality green cleaning supplies. According to the GlobeNewswire, the green cleaning products market worldwide is expected to reach $11.6 billion by 2029 from $3.9 billion in 2019. While it’s true that chemical-based home cleaners can make your home dirt-free, they also release toxins in your living space, increasing the risk of chronic health issues. Moreover, they increase your carbon footprint when you discard them.
If you intend to make your cleaning routine more green, it’s time to invest in more eco-friendly products and techniques. And the good news is that green cleaning is not as complicated and costly as many think. It can be a straightforward and affordable option that enables you to enjoy the health benefits of having a clean home. Read on to learn a few green cleaning tips and tricks for your home.
Invest In Non-Toxic Cleaners
If you’re like most people, you probably spend hundreds of dollars on chemical-based cleaners when you likely have plenty of robust natural cleaning agents in your pantry. If you don’t have them in the house, don’t fret–eco-friendly cleaners are cheap and readily available in grocery stores. These sustainable cleaning products include baking soda, white vinegar, lemon, and hydrogen peroxide, and you can use them for various cleaning projects in the house. For example, you can use baking soda and castile soap to scrub floors, windows, and other hard surfaces to achieve a sparkling clean look in your living space.
You can also get rid of dirt on clothes, textiles, microwaves, and tile grouts with vinegar. Typically, removing stains on the grout in bathroom or kitchen tiles can be quite a challenge. However, vinegar can help you keep your tile grouts sparkling clean every time. All you need to do is mix white vinegar and water, then put the mixture in a spray bottle. Apply the solution on dirty grouts and allow it to sit for about five minutes. Use an old toothbrush to brush the grouts and rinse with lukewarm water. In addition to using baking soda, lemon juice, and vinegar to keep your home smelling fresh and dirt-free, it pays to invest in premade, non-toxic house cleaning products. Doing so saves you a lot of time mixing cleaning ingredients. Some of the best natural cleaning products worth your money include ECOS, Bon Ami, and Branch Basics.
Skip Air Fresheners
After cleaning the house, some people like to prolong the fresh smell by spraying air fresheners in every room. It’s important to note that air fresheners contain many chemicals, including additives that pollute indoor air. The synthetic fragrance in air fresheners and detergent also trigger respiratory allergies, like asthma. With this in mind, consider skipping fragrances in detergents, air fresheners, and cleaning sprays. Instead, naturally freshen your home by opening your windows to allow the flow of air in your living space.
You can also maintain your home’s pleasant scent by adding a few drops of essential oils like eucalyptus, lavender, tea tree, and clove in a spray bottle filled with water, then spray every part of your home to get rid of bad odor. Besides improving indoor air, essential oils have numerous health benefits, such as better sleep quality, enhanced mood, and low anxiety levels. Because essential oils emit natural fragrances, you don’t have to worry about triggering allergic reactions in your home.
Avoid Using Paper Towels
It’s no secret that paper towels are convenient for cleaning spills around the house, especially in the kitchen. However, the frequent use of paper towels contributes to high carbon emissions because they release methane when disposed of in landfills. To make your home and cleaning practices more eco-friendly, use reusable cloths. You can invest in a mop with a washable pad rather than relying on disposable materials to clean the floors. You can also accomplish most of your cleaning chores with rags made from old clothes. So, always have a stash of rags in your bathroom and kitchen for wiping, scrubbing, and cleaning anything. When picking solids like food spills, kids or pet vomit, and hair, shake the rag in the trash bin before rinsing it clean.
You can also use cloth for cleaning glass surfaces in your home to reduce paper towel waste by half. While you can use any type of cloth or fabric to wipe off the dirt from glass surfaces, consider using lint-free rags. That way, you can keep your windows and other glass surfaces streak-free. Cleaning experts always recommend microfiber cloth because it doesn’t leave debris or stains on your windows. Nonetheless, you can use an old t-shirt to maintain sparkling windows while keeping your home environmentally friendly.
Rethink Your Laundry Practices
Doing laundry is something that one has to do as often as possible, but it’s no secret that washing clothes has negative impacts on the environment. According to data on Nature World News, the average washing machine in homes uses up more than 40 gallons of water per load. Not to mention heating water and a cloth dryer consumes about 90% of your home’s electricity. The laundry detergents you use effectively kill germs and make your clothes smell good, but they contain toxic chemicals that can end up in water sources, damaging aquatic life.
If you’re keen to green your cleaning regimen, you can achieve the best outcomes by switching to an energy-efficient washing machine to minimize water wastage. Also, dry your clothes on a washing line instead of using the dryer. Most importantly, opt for greener detergents and fragrances. While plenty of laundry products are advertised as green, most of them contain harsh chemicals that may affect your health and the environment. For this reason, you need to commit time and effort to learn how to make laundry detergent at home. Since homemade laundry soaps don’t contain chemicals or preservatives, they have less or zero negative impact on your family’s health and environment.
Undoubtedly, chemical-filled household cleaning products keep your spaces dirt-free and smelling fresh. However, using them regularly comes with a high cost to the environment. To reduce your impact on nature while performing house chores, consider switching to green cleaning. This step entails using chemical-free cleaners like baking soda, vinegar, and castile soap. Also, use reusable cloth for wiping and scrubbing in place of paper towels, use a high-efficient washing machine and line dry your laundry, and avoid air fresheners.
Many consumers have become conscious of their carbon footprint. As a result, they have turned to green cleaning practices to keep their homes clean and free of allergens. Since green cleaning techniques involve using chemical-free products like vinegar, baking soda, lemon, and essential oils, toxins don’t find their way to water sources. You also don’t have to worry about chemicals polluting indoor air, thus causing allergic reactions that often lead to chronic respiratory diseases. On the other hand, using a high-efficient washing machine helps reduce energy usage in your home. Given that used paper towels emit high amounts of methane when disposed of in landfills, wiping surfaces with reusable cloth also helps lower your carbon footprint significantly.
