A clean home is essential, but are our cleaning habits harming the environment? When we clean our windows, polish our furniture or even do the dishes, many of us are inadvertently contributing to harmful air and water pollution — so how do we make a change?
What if the cleaning products you use could positively impact the environment as well as the freshness of your home? By paying close attention to the ingredients you use to keep your kitchen germ-free and your bathroom sparkling, they can. Due to the way they’re formulated and packaged, some cleaning products harm the environment — read on to find out how and learn what you can do to minimise this impact.
How Do Cleaning Products Affect the Environment?
Water Pollution
When cleaning products are washed down drains, they eventually end up in rivers, ponds and lakes. Even after passing through water treatment plants, small quantities of chemical compounds can find their way into our waterways, causing pollution and adversely affecting wildlife. These chemicals can take a long time to degrade, and some may not break down at all, persisting in the environment and potentially entering the food chain as aquatic creatures consume them.
As well as directly polluting our waters, the toxic chemicals found in cleaning products accelerate a process called eutrophication. Nutrients such as ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus enable increased growth of aquatic plants, leading to dense vegetation that clogs waterways and invades the habitats of aquatic animals. When these plants die, their decomposition depletes oxygen levels in the water, causing algae to grow and killing animals. This further increases decay and exacerbates pollution even more.
Air Contamination
When you use cleaning products and open windows to ventilate the space, toxic chemicals are released into the environment. Thankfully, a worldwide ban of harmful chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) since 1987 has helped us avert a climate catastrophe, but the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in today’s cleaning products can also be detrimental to indoor air quality and ground-level ozone levels. In large enough quantities, these too can contribute to climate change. Scientific research shows that cleaning products are a significant source of urban air pollution, particularly as strict vehicle controls have reduced road traffic emissions.
Waste
It’s not only the formulation of cleaning products that can harm the environment — the packaging they come in can also cause problems. Many containers aren’t made from recyclable materials, and those that are can often still be thrown away once empty. When plastic ends up in landfill, it’s there indefinitely and accumulates in large quantities over time. Leftover VOCs in containers can also cause issues at disposal sites, as they affect local wildlife.
What You Can Do
Check Product Ingredients
If you want to make a change, start by making more informed purchases. Check the ingredients in cleaning products before you buy, looking out for low-VOC options that contain fewer quantities of ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus. Avoid potentially harmful chemicals as much as possible, instead opting for non-toxic, biodegradable products made from natural ingredients, such as citrus and pine oil. You could also reduce the number of cleaning products you buy — an all-purpose cleaner will often do the trick on a wide variety of surfaces.
Consider the Packaging
Avoid aerosols where possible and look out for plastic containers with fewer components as these are easier to recycle. You could also consider buying refills or purchasing concentrated products in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging, particularly if you clean commercially and get through lots of supplies.
Use an Eco-Friendly Cleaning Service
To be sure you’re cleaning in an environmentally-friendly way, why not leave it to the professionals? The right cleaning company will have its own eco-friendly cleaning process, which takes the stress out of cleaning and maintenance while ensuring minimal environmental impact.
