Taking The Environmental Cost Out Of Your Clean

God made this planet for us, and filled it with the plants to feed and sustain us. He gave us sparking azure oceans teeming with a phenomenally complex social strata of fish. Just look out of your window and, whether you’re a person of faith or not, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the quotidian beauty of the world we see around us sometimes.

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[ctt template=”4″ link=”lEkaI” via=”yes” ]Since many of us will be spring cleaning over the next few weeks, here are some ways in which you can take the environmental cost out of your clean…[/ctt]

Unfortunately, however, we’re not taking great care of this wonderful gift. It seems that for decades we’ve been oblivious to the impact on the choices that we make as consumers have on the environment. In the digital age, however, we can afford to be much more enlightened. We are better educated on the environmental damage caused by a diet that’s high in animal products and processed foods, entire industries are taking real steps to adopt more carbon neutral production methods and consumers are voting with their wallets, often paying more for products that are more sustainable.

Image by Pixabay

While our diet and lifestyle are highly important ways in which we can make a difference to this planet, here we’re going to talk about our weekly clean. Cleaning is the great leveler. It’s something that we all do and take pride in. Since many of us will be spring cleaning over the next few weeks, here are some ways in which you can take the environmental cost out of your clean…

Avoid pre packaged carpet cleaning products

We all encounter spills, scuffs and stains on the carpet (especially if there are kids running around). But before you reach for that spray bottle of carpet cleaner, consider the harmful chemicals that it may contain. Not only do these leach into the air to damage your local environment and potentially endanger the health of your children and pets, they also react negatively with any synthetic fibers in the weave of your carpet. Instead opt for an eco friendly carpet cleaner service near you. These services will deep clean your carpet with less wasted water and exclusively use biodegradable and non toxic cleaning agents to gently lift stains out of your carpet.

Don’t use chlorine bleach… Ever

Lots of us use products containing chlorine bleach to clean impervious surfaces in our bathrooms and kitchens. These products have become ubiquitous, occupying space beneath many a kitchen sink. But did you know that chlorine was used as a chemical weapon in World War One? When these products are used then rinsed away they can have a devastating effect on the local water supply and the local wildlife that uses it. Besides, there’s literally no cleaning job that bleach can’t do that can’t be done with a paste made of water and bicarbonate of soda and a spritz of spirit vinegar.

The price of packaging

Another thing many of us fail to consider is the environmental impact of all that plastic packaging. Not only do we tend to own more cleaning products than we really need (there’s really no need to have one bottle for the kitchen and another for the bathroom), we’re unaware that most cleaning products are packaged in non-recyclable plastics. These inevitably go into landfill waste where they can have a seriously problematic affect on the marine life and communities that depend on them.

This is a contributed post.

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