Phosphates, dyes, bleach, volatile organics, and toxins – these terms just sound frightening!
Choosing to utilize natural and eco-friendly cleaning supplies throughout your home is ultimately a quest to eliminate the harmful ingredients that are found all too commonly in most cleaning solutions. Knowing what to look out for is an important step to selecting only the best cleaners for the task at hand. Information on why you should avoid these compounds may help you select the best, and safest, eco friendly cleaning supplies. Here are some of the more notorious elements of common household cleaners that you won’t find in our eco-friendly cleaning supplies.
Bleach has long been a standard for cleaning projects of all types. It’s thought to have disinfectant properties as well as the miraculous ability to get your whites whiter in the wash. Though bleach does have its benefits, a major downside is that bleach is corrosive. Over-bleaching can damage hard surfaces and wear fabric thin. As for health, the fumes are harmful and mixing bleach with other chemicals can lead to more severe issues. Eco-friendly cleaning supplies contain ingredients that work better than bleach because they do the same job without the damage to your belongings or your lungs.
Phosphates are a less well-known group of ingredients found in common cleaning products. They are included for two reasons. First, they act as a water softener. Secondly, they have abrasive properties for scrubbing out ground-in dirt. They are normally found in automatic dishwashing detergents, laundry soap, and toilet cleaners. Like bleach, they have the nasty habit of corroding whatever they are used on. These compounds aren’t as bad for your health as bleach, but they are absolutely terrible for the environment.
Phosphates act as a fertilizer for algae and contribute to huge, unnatural algae blooms that may choke out other life in the water supply. They are very difficult to remove from water once mixed. Water treatment plants do their best to remove them from the supply, but the process is expensive and difficult. In an effort to protect our natural resources and minimize the environmental damage of household cleaning tasks, eco-friendly cleaning supplies do not contain phosphates.
As the name implies, volatile organic compounds are some of the nastiest chemicals on this list. Often referred to by the more pleasant acronym VOCs, these compounds are commonly found in cleaners that boast degreasing properties, as well as many aerosols. Window cleaners and all-purpose cleansers tend to contain VOCs. When applied to a surface, volatile organic compounds immediately make their way into the air supply. Minimal exposure can cause headaches, and prolonged use may lead to cancer. A few volatile organic compounds just hang around in the air of your home for a while after you’ve cleaned.
They also cause damage to the ozone layer and pollute outdoor air quality. Eco-friendly cleaning supplies will advertise their lack of these compounds, and usually aren’t aerosol to begin with. If you enjoy spray-on cleaning supplies, look instead for an easy-to-use spray bottle instead of an aerosol canister to protect your family and the planet from these toxins.
Choosing eco-friendly cleaning supplies in place of standard cleansers is the best way to be certain that you are not exposed to the more toxic elements of everyday cleaning products. Cleaning companies are not required by law to tell you their ingredients, and handy acronyms make it easy to disguise the more harmful chemicals within. Pure & Gentle’s products never contain these toxic elements. Our concern for the health of your home and the planet has led us to omit these potentially dangerous elements from our formulas. Our commitment to keeping our products environmentally friendly allows you the choice of non-toxic and eco friendly cleaning supplies for all your household chores.