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If your idea of spring cleaning involves kneeling on the kitchen floor, donning rubber gloves and inhaling noxious fumes as you scrub baked-on gunk from the sides of your stove, think again.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
In honor of Earth Day, don’t just get clean – get green.
That’s what the University of Maine did a little more than three years ago, when the facilities management and auxiliary services teams made the switch to green janitorial products. With the exception of germ-killing disinfectants, which are only used in dormitory restrooms, all cleaning products on campus are certified by Green Seal – an independent nonprofit that sets environmental standards for product labeling.
It may sound like a bold move, but to campus staff, it made sense – and cents.
“It’s actually pretty easy,” said Gordon Nelson, the university’s director of property management. “We wanted to be safe to our people, safe to our customers, which are students. … We buy concentrated cleaning products and dilute them ourselves, so the cost and waste have both dropped. The containers they come in are HDPE No. 2 recyclable plastic, and we reuse spray bottles.”
A campus as large as Orono uses massive quantities of cleaning supplies every year, but individual consumers can benefit from UM’s approach.
As more and more homeowners and corporations seek out alternatives to harsh cleaning products, the industry has responded with a slew of “eco-friendly” or “natural” offerings. Federal Trade Commission guidelines for environmental marketing have made it easier to navigate the cleaning-products aisle. But Nelson still stands by the Green Seal label.
“As a consumer, if you see the Green Seal label on a product, buy it,” he said.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “green cleaning involves selecting alternative products, using those products properly, and taking other steps to reduce risks while maintaining a satisfactory level of cleanliness and disinfection.”
With orange-oil cleaners or other naturally derived products, it might take a little more work to reach that “satisfactory level,” however.
“You have to replace ease with effort, basically,” said John Jemison, a water quality specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. “Try to look at what’s on the label.”
According to the extension’s guide “Alternatives to Toxic Household Products,” use of the words “caution,” “warning” and “danger” signify levels of a product’s toxicity, or its ability to harm an organism. Caution signifies low toxicity, warning is moderate, and danger indicates a highly toxic product. Other words, such as “poison,” “flammable,” “corrosive,” “volatile” or “caustic,” explain the nature of the hazard.
“Generally speaking, some [of the cleaning products out there] aren’t that bad, and some of them are,” said Jemison. “Try to look at what’s on the label.”
Nelson says consumers should steer clear of carcinogens in cleaning products – a full list of hazardous ingredients is available online at www.preventcancer.com. One substance to avoid is butolic acid, which appears primarily in heavy-duty cleaners such as oven sprays.
Morris Lee, a health and safety specialist at UMaine, said the use of strong cleaners is a matter of personal preference.
“Some people will be perfectly comfortable using a type of chemical that others won’t,” he said.
Across the board, however, chemical companies have worked to “green up” their offerings – especially when sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochloride and phosphoric acid are involved.
“Those are four ingredients you’ll see household cleaners try to find alternatives to,” he said.
Sodium hydroxide can still be found in drain cleaners – but it is less common than in years past -and sodium hypochloride was a common ingredient in abrasive powders such as Comet and Bon Ami. Phosphoric acid, once common in toilet bowl cleaners, can create toxic fumes when combined with ammonia. And chlorinated compounds, once prevalent in spray solvents, have been replaced with alcohols.
“The removal of chlorinated compounds from solvents – that’s your most environmentally-driven change,” Lee said. “They cause problems in the air and water supply.”
And there’s nothing clean – or green – about that.
Clean living
Here are some nontoxic alternatives to traditional household cleaning products courtesy John Jemison and Jane Haskell, University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Carpet and upholstery cleaner: clean stains immediately with club soda; sprinkle corn starch on rug and vacuum; rub dry baking soda into stain, let stand, vacuum; combine equal parts white vinegar and water to remove salt stains from winter boot traffic.
Chlorine bleach: Borax (this has a moderate toxicity rating)
Chrome polish: apple cider vinegar and a dry cloth
Copper, brass and bronze cleaner: Rub with lemon juice and salt or vinegar and salt; apply ketchup with soft cloth and rub.
Decal remover: soak in white vinegar
Drain opener: Pour 1/2 cup baking soda into drain with 2 cups boiling water. Or, mix 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup salt and 1/4 cup cream of tartar. Store in a container. To use, put 1/4 cup in drain and add 1 cup water. When bubbling action has stopped, run water through the drain. NOTE: do not follow baking soda treatments with products containing hydrochloric acid.
Furniture polish: Mix 1 teaspoon lemon oil in 1 pint of mineral oil; mix 3 parts olive oil with 1 part vinegar; melt 1 tablespoon carnauba wax with 2 cups mineral oil.
Scouring powder: Try baking soda.
Silver polish: Soak silver in 1 quart warm water containing 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt and a piece of aluminum foil.
Stain remover: club soda. For wine or coffee stains, put stained material in a glass or enamel pot. Cover with a mixture of milk and water. Bring to a boil and simmer 2 to 4 minutes, or until stain disappears.
Stainless steel cleaners: Remove spots by rubbing with cloth dampened with white vinegar.
Toilet cleaner: Mix 1/4 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup white vinegar and warm water.
Window cleaner: Mix 2 tablespoons vinegar and 1 quart warm water and pour into a spray bottle.
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