subject: Green Techniques For Indoor Cleaning [print this page] Using home decorating and air cleaning products create beauty and clean the house, but are the major cause of indoor pollution. The evaporation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from many of these products is to blame for the high level of pollutants in the home, which is more than 100 times more than outdoors. You can decrease the level of pollutants in your home by considering the following suggestions.
You can open up the windows of your home on the next nice day and let out all the pollutants that have converged there. Shun artificial room fresheners and scented cleaning products, for they are packed with VOCs and other poisonous chemicals. They not only poison the air, they can also trigger skin, eye and respiratory reactions and harm the natural environment. A vase of flowers will refresh any area naturally.
A report conducted about a decade ago by New Scientist revealed surprising data about aerosol sprays and air fresheners. Infants below six months of age living in homes where these products were used experienced 30 percent more ear infections and 22 percent more incidence of diarrhea; and mothers were 19 percent more prone to suffer from depression and experienced 25 percent more headaches.
Knowing the concept of "green washing" is a factor when choosing "green" cleaning options. Just because the word "natural" may show on a label does not necessarily make it so, and the user must understand this. Unregulated and very vague, the word is irrelevant here and can apply to anything at all. Consumers are advised by David Steinman, coauthor of The Safe Shopper's Bible, to concentrate exclusively on the product label and seek out eco-friendly components that are "known cleaning performers." Some of these include: grain alcohol, coconut or other plant oils in detergents and plant-oil disinfectants such as eucalyptus, rosemary or sage.
Homemade cleaners can also be very useful. Home cleaners can be prepared from some safe household products such as: water, baking soda, plain soap, vinegar, washing soda (sodium carbonate), lemon juice, and borax. The public must be made aware of cleaning products that are toxic, and according to Philip Dickey of the Washington Toxics Coalition, these can include: corrosive drain cleaners, oven cleaners, acidic toilet-bowl cleaners, and anything containing chlorine or ammonia, which can be lethal if mixed.
