List of Stipulations for Green Cleaning Supplies

If you own a home the chances are high that you use cleaning supplies on a regular basis. If you have kids those chances are even higher. My question is how much thought do you put into what you are using to clean your home? Sure you may want to get the cleaner that will do the best job and be the most effective at taking the stains out of carpet, but at what expense?

Green cleaning supplies have been gaining popularity for years now and are no longer an over priced novelty item reserved for the uppity. You too can now use green cleaning supplies to keep your home clean or go big and invest in green commercial cleaning supplies for your business. Green cleaning does not only mean using specialty cleaning products but it may also mean changing the way we do things and looking at the companies that we choose to support.

It is pretty easy to select the right green cleaning products, it is big business and marketing companies know that selling green is a good way to boost the bottom line and drive sales. But knowing if a company is really in it to make a difference or make a buck is were the fun comes in.

Here are some good ways tell if the cleaning products that you are using are truly green or if they are just in it for the other green.

• All products that are truly green should be certified by Green Seal. This is an organization that looks into all aspects of a product. They look at the scientific data supporting their claims of greenness and at the companies dealings. Companies that don’t make the grade are not awarded the Green Seal of approval.
• No cleaning product should be toxic to humans, animals, birds, or marine life. This rules out the vast majority of mainstream cleaning products. The ones that are really effective and can melt a hole in a drain. Not so good. The good part is that there are lots of alternatives and the list of options grows every day.
• Look for products that are biodegradable. Of course nearly everything is biodegradable to some extent, but we are looking for cleaning supplies that break down fast instead of taking millions of years.
• Concentrated products are employing the reduce, reuse, recycle strategy by reducing the amount of production that goes into the product. Concentrates get more out of their packaging, transport, and production. They are also able to pass this savings along to the customers. Be sure that if you are using a concentrate you are using the right amount.
• Many green cleaning products work well with cold water. It is not an old wives tale that hot water is necessary for cleaning, of course if sanitation is involved hot water is essential and can actually be all that is required but many cleaning supplies do not need to waste additional energy on heating water.
• Stay away from products that contain bleach. Bleach is a very harmful chemical that is toxic even in small doses. Combining it with other chemicals can also have disastrous effects. There are many other better objects for cleaning.
• Stay away from petroleum based products. Come on, how long are we going to have to deal with this. Petroleum is a non renewable resource, it is flammable, and it is toxic. We are going to run out of it, why don’t we just stop using it now, when we have alternatives. If it means spending a couple of extra dollars that should not be that big a deal.
• We heard about aerosols a lot in the past but we don’t hear about them so much any more. That does not mean that they are not still dangerous. Aside from being an environmental hazard have you ever seen what happens to an aerosol bottle that gets too hot? Not the kind of thing you want to have around your kids.
• Look for cleaning supplies that have a neutral pH balance, this is around 7. This means that it will not be harmful to the environment or to plants and animals. This does not take into account the presence of other chemicals, so keep that in mind.
• Look for cleaning supplies that come in containers that are easy to recycle. This means that containers are not made up of multiple different pieces of different materials. They may not have paper labels. The containers that are easiest to recycle are simple.

There are many ways to do things and there is not only one right way to do things. There are lots of companies out there that are selling fabulous green cleaning supplies that will get your home or business clean and allow you to feel good about that clean.