Tag Archive for 'cleaning products'

A couple of months ago, after I wrote an article on BPA in baby bottles, I decided that my family needed to make some additional “life changes.” Afterall, how hypocritical was it to be such a proponent of BPA-free baby bottles when we were cleaning the bottles with phosphate-laden dish soap?

Since these types of changes are rarely well received from my hubby, I decided to start with some “smaller changes.”

And so began the kitchen “eco-makeover”:

1) Switch to environmentally friendly liquid dish soap.
Once the old soap was gone, we bought new, “plant based” dish soap that contains no phosphates or dyes, and is 100% biodegradable. The way I see it, soap ends up in our water supply and has to be filtered out. So, the more “biodegradable” and environmentally friendly, the better, and less overall taxing on the water treatment plants and ecosystem.

Note: I have been looking for good environmentally friendly dishwasher detergents (and have tried a few brands that didn’t work out). Holler if you know of a good one!

2) Convert plastic storage containers to glass (i.e. Ziploc containers).
Let me first tell you that we didn’t throw out all of our ziploc containers. Instead, over the course of a few months, we used them to package up leftovers whenever family or friends came over for dinner (with explicit instructions that they were NOT to microwave their leftovers in those containers!). To replace them, we bought a couple boxes of glass containers with snap lids. The glass containers are microwave-safe (without the lids) and of course, are 100% recyclable when they break (we haven’t lost one to breakage yet).

3) Stop buying bottled water.
Bottled water companies aren’t going to like this one, but we stopped buying cases of bottled water. We each have BPA-free Nalgene jugs that we cart everywhere (they are dishwasher safe) and we drink filtered tap water instead of bottled water. According to the U.S. National Park Service, it takes 450 years to break down one plastic water bottle!

On a sidenote, I conducted a science fair project on bottled water when I was in high school (many moons ago). I found that the longer a bottle of water had been opened and exposed to heat (i.e. you leave a bottle of water that you started to drink in your hot car), the more colonies of bacteria would accumulate inside the bottle of water. So the next time you grab that week-old bottle of water in your car, think about all of that yummy bacteria you’re ingesting! And just for the record (because I’m a dork like that), I won quite a few awards for that science fair project!

4) Recycle, recycle, recycle. Period.
We recycle as much as humanly possible (in fact my husband makes fun of me for breaking down cardboard pudding packaging, cereal boxes, etc.). Plastic, glass, aluminum, cardboard, newspaper – they’re all recyclable!

5) Take non-disposable shopping bags to the grocery store.
According to the U.S. National Park Service, it takes 10-20 years to break down ONE plastic shopping bag! Personally, I think that companies should GIVE these bags away to consumers since they’d be saving money on plastic in the long run. But we both know that’s not happening. So I say spend that $0.99 the next time you go to the grocery store and keep that bag(s) in the back of your car for your weekly grocery run.

6) Freeze leftovers.
Those glass containers you bought to replace all those Ziploc containers are also freezer-safe (or make sure they are before you buy them!) So when you have leftovers, store them in the freezer and re-heat them on days when you just don’t feel like cooking.

7) Reuse Ziploc bags.
I know this one is shocking, but for “lightly-used” ziploc bags, store them in a ziploc bag labeled “Non-food” for later use. Alternatively, I have also cleaned them out with dish soap and let them completely air dry. I started doing this about six months ago and have cut down on the total number of ziploc bags I use by 1/3.

8 ) “Green” ify your cleaning products.
One of my colleagues swears by distilled vinegar and water. According to this site, which lists “1001 Uses for White Distilled Vinegar” household vinegar is environmentally friendly and non-toxic. And, because of it’s high level of acidity, vinegar can be used to kill most mold, bacteria, and germs (the site also lists step-by-step instructions for how to clean just about anything with vinegar).

Note: If you already have a bunch of cleaning products, don’t pour them down the drain! The best thing to do is to use them over time and then convert to vinegar. If you really need to dump them, you can visit your local household hazardous waste (HHW) collection center. HHW sites collect toxic, poisonous, corrosive, flammable, and combustible cleaners. For more information click here.

9) Whenever possible, buy in bulk.
This does not count if you end up throwing half of your food away from spoilage! But to the extent that you can buy large quantities of food and either freeze or store it for later use, you’ll be consuming less overall packaging by buying bigger sizes (see #10).

10) Use air-tight canisters.
This is key to #9. We’ve had the same “box” of Cheerios in an airtight canister for 4+ months – and they’re still fresh. Our kids don’t eat cereal in the morning, but like to snack on Cheerios at home, which means that it takes us forever to get through an entire box of cereal.

And lastly, I’m a big fan of compost bins. Although we don’t yet have one, I have asked my husband for one for my birthday. I look forward to teaching my daughters about the “recycling” part of the reduce, reuse and recycle lifecycle.

I would love to hear your stories and ideas for giving your kitchen an “eco-Makeover!” So don’t be shy!