I often get asked about eco-friendly cleaning and green cleaning products. Cleaning to me is a necessary evil. I don’t like doing it, but I do like having a clean house. As a result I haven’t paid much attention to cleaning products and generally grab one with ‘green’ or ‘eco’ in the name, without getting into the nitty gritty of whats in it, or how it stacks up against the typical cleaning products.
I have tried out a few eco-friendly cleaners, to varying degrees of success, so I thought I’d document my eco-cleaning efforts and try out a few more on the way. The main hurdle I found early on is that a lot of green cleaners don’t have the highly perfumed ‘pine/lemon/lavender fresh’ smell that is added to a lot of the mainstream versions. I now try and ignore the smell element when comparing cleaners as it is irrelevant when it comes to whether the product gets the floor, sink or whatever clean.
So here it is. Feel free to let me know if you have tried any others and at the end of the day if you really can’t face doing it, there is a new breed of Green Cleaning Companies who will come around your house to do it for you. Check out GreenClean
Surface cleaners (kitchen and bathroom)
Safe Care Clean bathroom cleaner. Initially I wasn’t sure about this product, probably as I was used to using cleaning products with a strong scent. But the more I used it the more I liked it. It cleaned the bath, sink and loo a treat and really made the tiles shine. A bit expensive but well worth it.
The High Performance Surface Cleaner also did a great job. The best part is that it is safe to clean children’s toys and play equipment.
Natures organics Earth Choice multi-purpose cleaner (available from Coles). This did a good job and was affordable. The bottle is made of recycled plastic and the ingredients are biodegradable and it had a fresh scent.
Bicarbonate of soda to clean the sink and tiles. Make a paste of the bicarbonate of soda, scrub into sink, leave for a bit and rinse. This did work well providing the gritty bicarbonate of soda was rinsed off thoroughly.
Toilet
Vinegar – two cups of white vinegar in the toilet bowl at night. Leave over night and give a quick scrub with the loo brush in the morning to remove water marks, germs, mould and stains. This worked OK but I wasn’t keen on the vinegar smell.
Greenworks toilet bowl cleaner. This worked pretty well and smelt pleasant which is kind of what you want when cleaning the loo.
Dishwashing liquid and dishwasher powder
Natures organics Earth Choice Dishwash Concentrate (available in Coles). This is priced around the same as the standard supermarket brands and does a great job. A plant based formula, it is grey water safe, biodegradable and the bottle is made of 100% recycled material. Again pretty happy with the results.
Squeek Dishwasher powder. Its difficult to find eco friendly dishwasher powder. Squeek contains no phosphates and is safe in biosystems. This works every bit as well as standard supermarket brands, but its not easy to get hold of so you have to buy online.
Soapnuts. These worked quite well in the dishwasher and are by far the most natural option.
Bicarbonate soda paste to clean grills and barbecues. Make a paste with water, apply and leave for half an hour or so, then scrub off. This worked well on the BBQ. I used an old scrunched up piece of foil to scrub off the old food. I was pretty happy with the results.
Window cleaner
Coles greenchoice window cleaner was pretty cheap and did an okay job cleaning windows and glass tables.
Vinegar, water and old newspaper. For windows and mirrors mix two tablespoons with a gallon of water, dispense through spray bottle and scrub with old newspaper. This worked remarkably well on dirt, greasy finger prints and smears. Neat vinegar works well on bird poo. I’d recommend to everyone to try this.
Deodorising
Carpets. Sprinkle on bicarbonate of soda, wait half an hour then vacuum up. This worked well on the bit of carpet that the baby had vomited on.
Bins or fridge. Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda at the bottom of bins or place a cup of bicarbonate of soda at the back of the fridge to neutralise nasty niffs. This worked pretty well and definitely reduced residual odours.
Floors
Vinegar and water used to clean wooden floors. Mix ¼ cup of white vinegar and 1 litre of warm water. This worked well and cleaned the marks off the floor without removing the varnish.
Earth Choice hard surface cleaner and Green Works natural floor cleaner. Neither are recommended for wooden floors but worked ok in the bathroom giving clean shiny tiles.
I’m looking for a natural mould removal recipe now….
Overall verdict. The old fashioned recipes worked far better than I expected and I’ve always got bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar in the cupboard now. A bit of essential oil goes a long way too to make the house smell fresh.
I have a great book filled with natural remedies for domestic disasters. It is called Spotless (published by ABC books)
The mould cleaner recommended has worked for quite well: use white vinegar and warm water to get it off walls (make a paste of bicarb and vinegar if abrasive properties needed, such as on tiles) and then wipe over with warm water and two drops of oil of cloves, which will inhibit mould growth. I like the smell of cloves!
As for the scenting issue, you can always add lemon juice to your cleaning water. The book also suggest it added to rinse cycle in washing machine to kill bacteria – you may want to try it with baby nappies – completely safe!
Hope this helps,
ness
Also take a look at Nature Direct Cleaning products. Nature DIrect products were developed by scientists in Switzerland and are now being manufactured here in Aus. The solutions are 100% natural, non-toxic and made without alcohol or heat. They are pH Neutral and biodegradable. They are a plant-based cleaner and really do work i have been using them for nearly two years now. Look them up http://www.naturedirect.com.au