What on earth did you do on Earth Day?

So, what on earth did you do for Mother Earth on her special day last Thursday, April 22 (aside from wear green with your heart on your sleeve)? Earth Day may be over, but hey, it doesn’t mean we have to stop doing our bit for the earth and our fellow earthlings. Why not make every day Earth Day?

In a down-to-earth celebration of the 40th year of Earth Day, the largely female member groups of the EcoWaste Coalition came together, picked each other’s brains, and came up with creative recipes with a Pinoy twist for a home sweet toxic-free home.

Ready for battle, armed only with broomsticks and their disarming charm, the women trooped to the vicinity of Nepa Q-Mart in Quezon City and showed how we could rid our homes of dust and dirt particles as well as foul odors, and deal with those pesky household pests without the use of synthetic chemicals that harm us and our environment.

Eileen Sison, NGO representative to the National Solid Waste Management Commission, laments, “Our growing dependence on chemical-based household cleaners is exposing our families, particularly the children, to a cocktail of toxic fumes and substances, many of which have been tested and proven to cause serious health effects on humans and animals.”

Which are these chemicals in household cleaners that shouldn’t find a place in our home? Dangerous chemicals commonly found in household cleaners include ethylene glycol butyl ether, ethoxylated nonylphenol, methylene chloride, naphthalene, paradichlorobenzene, silica, toluene, trisodium nitrilotriacetate, and xylene. These are known or suspected carcinogens, endocrine disrupters or reproductive toxins.

Sison warns consumers, “To make matters worse, many of these household cleaners are not properly labeled to provide full disclosure of their chemical content, or their toxic elements are buried under generic terms such as fragrance, dye, and surfactant.”

She adds with much concern, “In most cases, such products are not eco-friendly. We therefore recommend that we return to the basics, that we detoxify and clean our homes the natural way, to keep our families safe from unnecessary toxic exposures as well as reduce chemical releases into the air and water that could harm not only humans, but also fish and other aquatic organisms.”

According to the EcoWaste Coalition, it is imperative for Filipino families to switch to non-toxic cleaners (yes, there are such things but more on them a wee bit later) to: reduce indoor air pollution; reduce human exposure to toxins that can trigger or aggravate diseases; reduce household hazardous solid and liquid wastes from being created and disposed of into the environment; reduce environmental pollutants, including greenhouse gases, with the non-use of petroleum and chlorine-based cleaners; reduce market demand for toxic cleaning agents and solutions; and reduce cleaning and maintenance costs.

In a bid to rid our homes of toxic cleaners, members of the EcoWaste Coalition are dishing out these Ligtas Linis household cleaning tips that incorporate helpful hints from our lolas, no-frills ideas from zero waste advocates, and doable suggestions from other sources. These groups include Arugaan, Buklod Tao, Citizens’ Organization Concerned with Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Green Stage Filipinas-Maskara, Institute for the Development of Educational and Ecological Alternatives, Krusada sa Kalikasan, SALIKA, Sining Yapak, and Zero Waste Philippines.

They declare in one voice, “We want to encourage every Filipino home to try and adopt non-toxic household cleaning and maintenance options. Let a safe and healthy home be our shared contribution towards a sustainable future for all.”

Top ‘Ligtas Linis’ Tips

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.

• Collect fresh sampaguita, ilang-ilang or camia flowers and put them in a place that needs to be  deodorized.

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

III. Floor cleaning:

• Sweep the floor with walis tambo (broom).  Save electricity; use the vacuum cleaner sparingly.

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

• 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).  Alternatively, use pinong buhangin (fine sand).

• 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. Or mix 1/2 teaspoon washing soda, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, and 2 cups hot water in a spray bottle or pail, apply, and wipe clean.

• For toilet bowls, sprinkle baking soda in and around the bowl (or pour 1/4 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.

• For coffee stains, place baking soda with a spoonful of soap powder on blemished spot, rub, and rinse.

• To remove unpleasant laundry smell (amoy maasim o panis), place 3 tablespoons vinegar in a big basin of lukewarm water, soak clothes overnight, then rinse, and dry.

• For a natural laundry whitener and deodorizer, soak clothes in water with pounded kamias (ginger lily).

• 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. Garden cleaning:

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

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

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

VIII.  Dealing with household pests:

• To drive cockroaches away, put some raw 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 fruits and leave out or hang.

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

• To make a natural anti-mosquito spray, pound fresh atis leaves into paste, dilute in 1 liter water, and spray to mosquito-infested area. To make your own lotion repellant against mosquitoes, mix thoroughly 1 cup pounded atis leaves, 1 cup alcohol, and 1/2 cup coconut oil or baby oil, and apply to skin.

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

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

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

Of course, you may have your own down-to-earth, innovative, non-toxic household cleaning tips. Do send them to the EcoWaste Coalition at info@ecowastecoalition.org.
–Ching M. Alano (The Philippine Star)
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