Tee Cee's Tip for Monday, April 12, 2021

Daily Times-Call, Longmont, Colo.
·4 min read

Apr. 11—Hi, Tee Cee,

I am spring cleaning. (Yay, spring!) Do you have any favorite "green" or "Zero Waste" cleaners you would recommend that aren't super-expensive or hard to find? I want to be green, but I have a tight budget.

Thanks, Claudia

Dear Claudia,

I do have favorite cleaners to recommend. They're effective, extremely inexpensive, and I'm willing to bet you can find them in your kitchen cupboards right now. I hear ya, "Oh no, she's going to tell us how to make our own cleaners." Yep. I am. But this DIY could not be easier, so keep with me here.

For a truly clean, truly green, home, take a tip from the original Zero Waste, nontoxic cleaning guru — grandma. Our grandmothers (or great-grandmothers, depending on your generation) didn't buy the gazillion different cleaning products on the markets today, and her house wasn't any less clean. In fact, it was potentially cleaner in that it didn't have toxic residue on surfaces or indoor air pollution from using or storing what are often toxic cleaners.

Over the decades, marketing campaigns have been pretty successful in getting us all to believe that our houses will be crawling with germs if we don't use their products. But numerous studies and recommendations from no less than the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that hydrogen peroxide in particular is as effective or more effective than conventional "antibacterial" cleaners and disinfectant products.

And if our goal is a clean and healthy home (which, it is, right?) we don't want to be using products that may make things look and smell "clean," but contain toxic ingredients or volatile organic compounds that are potentially giving us asthma, cancer or poisoning our water systems.

And then there's the Zero Waste benefit. By making your own cleaners, you'll prevent single-use plastic bottle waste, and we're all about that.

Getting back to Granny's basics

DIY time. Open your cupboards to find these basic ingredients (or purchase them in bulk — they're really inexpensive) to make some nontoxic and effective cleaners granny-style.

Disinfectants

(Note: Never mix vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together.)

White vinegar is a proven natural disinfectant. It cleans and deodorizes, and while it has that unmistakable smell while it's wet, it's odorless when dry. Note: Never use vinegar on marble as it will corrode the surface. I have a big gallon jug of white vinegar, and it lasts forever since you dilute it in water to clean.

Hydrogen peroxide is a proven disinfectant and can also be used instead of bleach to whiten. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down to water and oxygen in wastewater. Note: Don't use hydrogen peroxide on brass, zinc, copper, nickel or silver plating.

General cleaners

Baking soda is a naturally occurring mineral. It cleans, deodorizes, softens water (to increase sudsing and the cleaning power of soap) and is a good scouring powder, especially in the bathroom.

Castile soap biodegrades safely, is nontoxic and is available in grocery stores and health food stores. Look for plant-based castile soaps, which are not the same as many "liquid soaps" out there that are made from petroleum-based detergents and no actual soap.

Lemon juice cleans, cuts grease and freshens.

Cleaning recipes

Here are some easy DIY nontoxic cleaning recipes to get you started:

Household cleaner: Mix in a spray bottle 2 tablespoons baking soda, 1 pint warm water and a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of vinegar to cut grease.

For surfaces that need scouring: Try moist salt or baking soda and a green scouring pad.

Window cleaner: Mix in a spray bottle 2 teaspoons vinegar and 1 quart warm water. Rub dry with newspaper to avoid streaking (and then compost the wet newspaper).

General disinfectant: Spray undiluted hydrogen peroxide or undiluted vinegar (Not both! Do not mix vinegar and hydrogen peroxide together.) to clean and disinfect. To sanitize, leave it on the surface for a few minutes.

Basin, tub and tile cleaner: Mix: 1/2 cup baking soda and 2 to 3 tablespoons liquid castile soap.

Get more nontoxic cleaning recipes using these basic ingredients for everything from oven cleaners to metal polishes to spot removers at ecocycle.org.

Tee Cee

Have Zero Waste questions? Rosie@ecocycle.org has the answers.