Ideas and feedback generated from last weeks blog post on cleaners

Within the School of Veterinary Nursing there was quite a bit of email traffic generated by last weeks blog post and I thought it was worthwhile sharing.........


Helen got a home made washing powder recipe from her friend Emma:

Emma had to say about the recipe above:

I use 4 cakes of Sunlight (1 box) and 1 container of washing crystals and make a large batch this fills 2 icecream containers. I usually put in a few drops eucalyptus or lavender oil.

Also when I pour it into containers to cool and (sort of) set I sort of whisk it a couple of times as it cools or it seems to separate a bit.

This does not have any bleaching agents so will not take stains out you need to treat these before washing!

But is very biodegradeable and lasts for ages you only need a small scoop for a full load. I use a scoop form a commercial power I saved.

Also I noticed Lily is less itchy when I use this vs commercial powder.

Probably once every 10 white loads I will use commercial powder just to really whiten them up

And apparently you can catch the waste water from the washing machine, where you ahve used this home made washing powder and water your garden with it and Emma says the garden does just fine. 
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Helen also raised the point "Does the Eco brand actually ahve any backing that it is better than any other or is it just good marketing?"


And this is probably a good point - it certainly has less stuff in it than other brands - the ingredient list is far shorter and the list of ingredients looks less chemical, but is it any better?


I'll leave you to make your own mind up and do your own comparisons.  Here is the link to the secostore website regarding how environmentally firendly it is. 


Jennifer H mentioned that she had done some of her own research and found that Surf was the one to use.  It is also part of Unilever which have got a well published sustaoinability charter and seem to be really openly committed, though I couldn;t find anything on the website relating specifically to surf and its sustainability.  Here is the link - you can have a look and make your own mind up.  Of course with this brand over say ecostore you have to consider miles the products are travelling and supporting the local economy and compare the cost/benefits. 


There are of course many other washing products like Down to Earth which claim to be ecofriendly too - sorry there is no link.  I have struggled to find one.  I didn find on my hunting the website for Reckit and Benckiser which cary a huge number of brands, including things like Frend and Finish.  You can read about their environmental committment here.  I would encourage you when reading this promotional stuff on websites to go back and review that video clip that I posted a couple of posts back - "How Stuff Works" .  The thing that sticks in my mind is for every product that emerges, on average there is about 70 x the waste produced.  Scary stuff. 


I think this all highlights that first and foremost we should look at using less process products and less of everything in general.  Then if we need something else we look at what it is, how it is produced, what the companies sustianability policy is and is it safe.  Remember lots of the commercial products are filled with long lists of stuff - names which you can hardly read.  Unlike the homemade washing powder recipe above. 
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Moving on from washing powder Helen also commented:

"I love that vinegar is back… just like grandma said. She also uses baking soda for deodorant, is 90 and doesn’t seem to smell much… (2 good reasons to use it, it would seem. Like my robust clinical trial???)"

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One the veterinary front Jennifer H suggested the use of a UV light for sanitising surfaces in the veterinary clinic surgery once they have been cleaned and after having Helen Milner down from VetSpecs last week, we are now investigating implementing there noscrub surgical hand wash system, which avoids the litres and litres of water running dopwn the sink. 

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On Chlorines, Jennifer H mentioned:

"Chlorines are strong oxidisers and toxic in high amounts (like most chemicals). But it biodegrades by gassing off. I seem to recall learning about it a few years back and the chlorine gas is a minimal risk as chlorine (sodium chloride) is found naturally in very high concentrations in our oceans. You get what you pay for with bleach. The Janola brand has up to 5% sodium hypochlorite but as it is stored, the percentage goes right down so it needs to be kept fresh. The cheap brands only have as little as 3% and they also degrade with age. "

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Vinegar as a rinse aid in the dishwasher and clove oil for mould

Several staff cxommented that Vinegar is a very good rinse aid, so why don't you all give that a try instead of purchasing rinse aid.

From Caro: I use white vinegar in the dishwasher instead of the conditioner this leaves dishes lovely and clean.　

1/4tsp of clove oil to 1litre of water is a great way of killing mould it still doesn’t bleach the mould so you have to clean the mould off first and then the clove oil helps prevent it coming back (asthmatic children) reacted strongly to other cleaning products.

From Jeanette: I used white vinegar on my bench after the sustainability tip – looks fab!
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Baking Soda
Lara says "Baking soda is a great, non toxic substitute for scrubby cleaners, and salt on half a lemon will take nasty stains out of counters and kills off a lot of bacteria.
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Bulk Cleaners
Jennifer H also mentioned "we discovered this week that you can get bulk cleaners at Piko Wholefoods on Stanmore rd. just bring your own refillable container!" - this is great for those of you in CHCH.  THere are sure to be similar options elsewhere too.

Remember when purchasing bulk cleaners like this, still ask the same questions about whats in them, where they are from and so on!! 
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What is biodegradable?

In the school teaching facility we are using Safe4 which is very like Trigene (a halogonated tertiary amine) and it is sold on being safe to animals and the environment and being biodegradable.  We are still trying to get more information to quaitify this, now that we are thinking at a doifferent level, and not believing everything we read!

It has raised the interesting questions...

1.  What is the definition of biodegradable?  We know they now market biodegradable plastic pbags but from the reading I have done this could be 500 years of biodegrading which really isn't acceptable. 

2.  Before it biodegrades - are any of the products including those in the breakdown process toxic?

So far, we have not had responses about this product to answer our more indepth questions, so we will let you know when we do.  We are also hoping to be speaking to a veterinarian with sustianbility interests next week about what she uses in her clinic.

We are also investigating other options.  However our biggest issue is we need to be using a product that is proven against parvovirus and ringworm in particular to ensure we are meeting hospital level standards in our facility. 

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So thats it from me this week..thanks to all the contributors.............some solutions provided and some questions generated.................I would be keen to know if anyone has a good natural cleaner for showers - glass doors and acrylic.  I now have a citrus clearner which certainly caused my hands or breathing no grief so that has got to say something, but maybe vinegar or baking sode in diswashing Liq do a similar job? 


Have a great and sustainable weekend!  During the next week, the challenge is to challenge someone who is selling you a product on its "sustainability credentials" and then before you buy it, ask the question "Do I really need it?"..................Remember "Less is more"


Cheers
Francesca