Energy Matters Forums

[Willchambers]

Hi everyone,
I am a university student from Adelaide, Australia and am currently looking at shopers perceptions of green cleaning products. I've been having a look around this forum and thought this would be a great place to get some reactions so if you could help me discuss your perceptions of green cleaning products, it would be greatly appreciated.

Who here uses green cleaning products (or products that claim to be eco-friendly)?

Why do you choose to buy environmentally safe cleaners over other cleaners?

Do you think they work as well as their non-eco counterparts? are they weak?

What do your friends think, are you seen as a bit dorky for buying them?

Anything you have to say on this will interest me so dont be shy!

[zzsstt]

Many cleaning products are not required at all, and most need only be used in tiny quantities.

I use screwed up soggy newspaper in a bucket of water (perhaps with a dash of metho or vinegar) to clean windows, it works just as well as any commercial product.

In answer to the specific questions:

We use a mixture of "eco" and "normal" cleaning products.

We use them because we have no mains sewage service, so all our waste goes through a BioSeptic and then irrigates the garden. High salt content products kill the plants, and products that kill the organisms in the BioSeptic destroy the waste digestion process.

Do they work as well? They vary, but so do the normal products! Overall they probably don't work quite as well, for example we have stopped using a specific "eco" clothes wash product and now use a standard product that Lanfax tested as having a low salt content.

Sadly our friends don't help us with the cleaning, so they have no knowledge of which products we use!

I would also say that the current perception that all products need to kill 99.9% of germs is counterproductive - it is widely accepted that a lack of exposure to "dirt" in childhood causes development issues with the immune system, resulting in immune system related problems like asthma. Our bodies were designed (evolved) to live in a dirty world, and we do ourselves no favours by trying to be too sterile!

[Morricol]

I have been using an Earth friendly dishwashing liquid and hard surface cleaner for years and occasionally the clothes washing powder. Newspaper and soapy water with a dash of metho is great for cleaning windows, vinegar is okay as a fabric softener, not excellent but good enough.

I don't buy bleach or strong cleaners because it is bad for the critters who operate our Biolytix septic system.

The Earth friendly products do the job and are even better with the addition of regular elbow grease.

I haven't asked my friends what they think about the cleaning products I buy, I doubt they would care less.

I don't like the smell of strong chemicals and bleach based cleaners that have to be used in a well ventilated room. I think they are capable of doing more harm than good.

[greenliving223]

I've used soap nuts as an alternative to regular laundary detergent for quite a while with very good results. They get my clothes just as clean as regular detergent and they are much safer. They look a little weird, but I don't care what anyone else thinks!

[zzsstt]

"Eco Store" Plant Based Dishwashing Liquid, sold by Woolworths.

My wife's verdict:

"A complete waste of time. It does nothing. You have to use half bottle."

What more can I say?

[Clemo]

Yes we also have no mains sewer and our enviro cycle system requires some attention as to what goes into it.
Other than that we buy what works and is value for money.

Also not a fan of the "Anti Bacterial" everything these days. A little exposure to every day organisms and some basic hygiene is not a bad thing.

As fare as what others think....Who cares!

[energygreensince85]

There are a lot of green alternatives out there for cleaning supplies. There is also been a rise in the quality of these. However, I do like to find alternatives with household chemicals for every day applications. As mentioned above a lot of people have dish washing substances they have created. I use peroxide, alcohol and baking soda for cleaning spots off the carpet in between carpet cleanings! I have found that it does a great job and eliminates odors instead of using fragrances!

[zzsstt]

As long as you keep in mind that "household chemicals" are really no different to what is in the retail cleaning products. They are all chemicals, they all have good points and bad points. I was amused to hear a friend of ours complaining about people using "poisons like Ant-Rid" to kill ants, when all you need is sugar solution and borax....... I didn't have the heart to tell her that Ant-Rid is honey and borax........

[cw nsw]

surely you can't mean that the "unique delayed action formula with specil sweet based attractant" is just honey

[zzsstt]

Oh my word yes! The special sweet attractant is honey, and the delayed action is borax......

But our friend would rather use sugar solution and borax, because household chemicals are far less dangerous than "poisions".

Now consider all the people who think that canola (heat/pressure/solvent extracted, highly modified, deodorised and hydrogenated oil from a plant bred to suit the industry not the human body) is better for you than butter (milk, haken not stirred). Canola was only put in to large scale production in the 80's, and only because studies had shown that olive oil was good for you - but olive oil is expensive and olives aren't really suited to mass production or the climate in America. So canola was rushed in to production with rather less than the normal amounts of testing. This is even funnier because olive oil is "good for you" because of its high levels of omega-3 etc. Raw canola does have high levels of omega-3 (10%+), but it is not shelf stable, so a large portion is removed (modified, becoming trans-fats). The result is a very stable oil that shares very little of the health benefits of olive oil, but is cheap and easy to produce.

Now, how many people buy canola because it's good for you?