Clean up your home of toxic cleaners

It’s all over (the holiday hoopla, that is) but the cleaning up. But before you pick up your trusty broomstick and dust pan, and take out those cleaning aids from your musty cabinet shelves, read this: A toxic watchdog has urged the public to use safer alternatives to avoid health risks due to cleaning chemicals.

“Ushering in a new year via a toxics-free household is an excellent place to start. We can get rid of dust and dirt, foul smell and pests using alternative products and practices that will not cause toxic harm,” says retired chemist Sonia Mendoza of the EcoWaste Coalition and Mother Earth Foundation.

She dishes out this friendly warning: “Chemical-based cleaning products may make our homes look clean on the surface, but look closer and you will find that these items are hiding insidious effects.”

She adds with concern, “Many of these products contain very-hard-to-pronounce toxic chemicals, which are often not even indicated in the labels or hidden in generic terms such as fragrance.”

These toxic products may be innocently lying around the house, often within easy reach of unsuspecting children.

“Is your family’s health really worth the risk of using these noxious products?” asks Aileen Lucero of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project PROTECT (People Responding and Organizing against Toxic Chemical Threats).

Watch out for these suspected carcinogens, endocrine disrupters or reproductive toxins commonly found in cleaning agents: ethylene glycol butyl ether, ethoxylated nonylphenol, methylene chloride, naphthalene, paradichlorobenzene, silica, toluene, trisodium nitrilotriacetate and xylene. They’re not only hard to pronounce and spell, they’re hard on the household budget, too, as a lot of these cleaners are quite pricey.

Fret not. You can clean up your house of toxic cleaners. No need to hurt an already battered Mother Earth. No need to expose oneself needlessly to harm. Clean up your act. Instead of using cleaners containing harmful chemicals, heed these “Ligtas” cleaning tips thoughtfully put together by the people behind the EcoWaste Coalition who didn’t really have to look far to come up with these eco-friendly cleaning substitutes. After all, these cleaners could be found growing in your lush garden or stashed away in your good old pantry such as sabila (aloe vera), is-is, tanglad (lemongrass), bay leaves, sukang puti (white vinegar), calamansi juice, and baking soda.

These natural cleaning aids have been keeping our homes clean and bright since the days of our great-grandmothers. Our great-grandmothers certainly knew best.

“Our grandparents had the right idea when they came up with these traditional, but eco-friendly, homemade cleaning agents and recipes. It’s time for us to rediscover these fabulous cleaning secrets,” stresses Lucero.

She points out, “By adopting these cleaning tips, we can cut indoor air pollution as well as reduce human exposure to toxins that can trigger or aggravate diseases, while saving hard-earned money, too.”

Clean Sweep

I. General cleaning:

• Segregate your discards to make reusing, recycling, and composting at home easy.

• Do not throw hazardous discards into the sink, canal or the rubbish bin.

• Create your own multi-purpose cleaner by dissolving 4 tablespoons baking soda in 1 quart warm water. Spray or apply with sponge or rag and wipe clean.

II.  Cleaning the air:

• Make your home a non-smoking zone.

• Find the sources of unpleasant smells and get rid of them.

• Keep the air quality pure and clean with the help of house plants.

• Ensure that all sections of the house are clean and well-ventilated.

• Refrain from using synthetic fragrances, air fresheners or deodorizers.

• Place sabila (aloe vera) in the rooms to absorb toxins and freshen the air.

• In a pot over low heat, simmer slices of calamansi or lemon or any citrus in season such as dalandan to rid the air of stale smell.

• Leave 2 tablespoons baking soda on a dish to keep obnoxious odors away.

• Create potpourri from available herbs, spices, and indigenous flowers to serve as air freshener.

III.  Floor cleaning:

• Sweep the floor with walis tambo (broomstick).

• Save electricity; use the vacuum cleaner sparingly.

• Do not hose down the garage, sidewalk or street. Conserve water; use the walis tingting.

• For tile and linoleum floors, combine 1/2 to 1 cup vinegar and 1 gallon hot water. Apply on the floor and mop clean.

• Polish wooden floors with banana leaves. They will turn up shiny, but minus the turpentine smell.

• To remove stubborn stains from the floor, mix 3 parts baking soda and 1 part water, apply, let stand, scrub, and wipe clean.

IV.  Kitchen cleaning:

• Soak fruits and vegetables thoroughly in a basin to remove chemical residues, and use the wastewater to water plants.

• Use hugas bigas (rice water) to clean soiled plates and glasses before washing them with soap and water. It will make the tableware, especially the glasses, shinier.

• To remove the tutong (burnt or hardened food) from cookware, sprinkle the bottom of the pot or pan with baking soda, add hot water, soak for a few hours as necessary, wash and rinse well.

• Scrub burned pots and pans with is-is leaves to remove the uling (char).

• To remove grease and grime from pots and pans, make a paste of 3 tablespoons baking soda, water, and a dash of salt. Dip a sponge into the paste, rub onto greasy parts, leave paste dry, and then rinse with hot water.

• To clear a clogged drain, pour baking soda and then add boiling water. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes and then rinse with warm water.

For normal cleaning of basin and drain, use full-strength vinegar.

• Place an open box of baking soda (or a few pieces of charcoal) in the refrigerator to eliminate odors.

• To neutralize unpleasant cooking odors resulting from frying fish or cooking bagoong (shrimp or fish paste), boil a cup or two of vinegar in a small pot. The vinegar will absorb the odors.

V.  Toilet and bathroom cleaning:

• To clean tiles, scrub the surface with kamias (ginger lily) or pineapple peels as substitutes for chlorine-based cleaners.

• To clean tiles, simply sprinkle baking soda on the surface, rub with a wet sponge, and rinse well with warm water.

• For toilet bowls, sprinkle baking soda in and around the bowl (or pour 1/2 cup baking soda and 1 cup vinegar into the bowl). Let sit for a few minutes, scrub or brush clean, then flush.

VI. Laundry cleaning:

• Choose an eco-friendly laundry detergent.

• Replace half of each measure of laundry detergent with baking soda to keep clothing fresh.

• To remove stains, pre-treat stains with baking soda paste, or pre-soak clothes in laundry soap with calamansi.

• White vinegar from your kitchen is a good substitute for fabric conditioner and a boon to allergy-prone skin. Add a cup to your last rinse, and don’t worry about the sour smell — it evaporates rapidly as your clothes dry, leaving them soft and fresh.

VII.  Metal cleaning:

• To clean off tarnish, coat and rub silver with toothpaste, rinse with warm water, and dry with soft cloth.

• Put foil in the bottom of a pan. Add water enough to cover the silver. Add 1 tablespoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil, add the silver pieces, and boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan, rinse well and dry.

• To polish chrome and other metals, sprinkle flour on the surface and rub clean

VIII.  Glass cleaning:

• To polish glass windows, rub them clean with damp newspaper.

• For stubborn dirt, mix one part vinegar and one part water, apply or spray on the glass and wipe until dry and shiny.

IX.  Garden cleaning:

• Don’t burn fallen leaves, dried twigs, and other yard discards. Compost them.

• Avoid insecticides, herbicides, and pesticides when dealing with garden pests and weeds.

• Log on to http://ecologycenter.org/factsheets/#pest for fact sheets on non-toxic pest and weed control.

Dealing with household pests:

• To drive cockroaches away, put some raw bay or pandan leaves in cupboards.

• To make a cockroach trap, half fill a bottle with a sweet drink and add a tablespoon of oil. The sweet drink will attract cockroaches into the bottle, and the oil will prevent them from climbing out. Bury the dead cockroaches afterwards.

• To repel ants, crumble dry bay leaves in doorways and window sills; or mash chili in water, or mix 1 part vinegar and 1 part water, and apply to counter tops; or squeeze calamansi juice into the hole or crack where ants come from.

• For houseflies, scratch the skin of an orange or other citrus fruit and leave out.

• To drive mosquitoes away, plant malvarosa, marigold, basil or tanglad or citronella around the house, or hang some tanglad on windows and doors.

• Refrain from using mosquito coil or chemical spray; opt for mosquito net (kulambo) instead.

• To repel rats, put fresh or dried mint leaves or moisten small balls of cotton wool with clove oil in closets and cupboards.

• For more information, refer to “Debug Your Home the Natural Way: A Quick Guide to Safer Pest Control at Home” at www.panap.net.

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We’d love to hear from you. E-mail us at ching_alano@yahoo.com.

–Ching M. Alano (The Philippine Star)