Living the Green Life: Greener Home Products

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation sent this bulletin on 03/08/2023 05:02 PM EST
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Greener Home Products

Be a Friend of the Environment: Greener Home Products

Bin of reusable spray bottles, towels, sponge, and gloves

Have you ever looked at the ingredients list on a personal care or home cleaning product? Often, there may be ingredients you don't recognize and some can contain toxic heavy metals and designer chemicals. We sometimes forget that natural substances, familiar to us in our daily lives, often have great cleaning properties. Items like baking soda, salt, and vinegar can be used to help clean our homes and other places. Natural, organic products can be healthier for us and our environment. With the increased awareness of climate change in society, many of us are looking for ways to help our environment and small changes in our daily habits can make a big difference.

Some DEC initiatives to promote greener products:

Looking to make a difference with product choices for items you use regularly? We've included some recipes you can make for greener product alternatives. These recipes include natural products, many of which you may already have in your home.

Household Cleaning Products and their Greener Alternatives
Product Alternative(s)
All-purpose cleaner 250 mL water, 15 mL of unscented castile soap.

For a scented cleaner, add about 10 drops of an essential oil but use with caution as some can be toxic to your pets.
Drain opener Always try a plunger or other manual device first (like a drain snake)

250 mL baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), 250 mL salt, 125 mL white vinegar, 1 kettle boiling water
Pour baking soda, salt, and vinegar down drain and leave for 15 minutes. Pour in boiling water.

For maintenance: pour about 50 mL salt down the drain, followed by a kettle of boiling water, once or twice a week. Instead of salt, you could use 50mL washing soda (sodium carbonate), or 50 mL baking soda plus 50 mL vinegar.
Fabric softener Adding 50 mL baking soda to the wash cycle, or 50 mL vinegar to the rinse cycle, will soften your laundry just as well as the costly commercial liquids.

You can add wool dryer balls to the dryer to reduce drying time.

You can eliminate static cling without softeners by tossing a small wet towel into the dryer a few minutes before the end of the cycle. Remove the garments and hang them up as soon as the dryer stops and they will be wrinkle-free too.
Furniture polish (varnished, lacquered, or shellacked) 25 mL olive oil, 1 mL white vinegar, 1 L warm water

Mix ingredients and put into a spray bottle. The polish works best when warm; heat by letting the bottle sit in a pan of hot water. After applying, rub dry with a soft cloth.
Furniture polish (no protective coating) 15 mL lemon oil, 1 L mineral oil

Put into a spray bottle. Spray on, rub in, then wipe clean.
Bleach 1 part hydrogen peroxide, 8 parts water

Soak garments in this solution, then rinse. Note: For delicate fabrics that cannot be exposed to chlorine bleach.
Laundry detergent substitute To switch from commercial detergents to a more responsible solution, you will first have to get rid of the detergent residues now in your clothes. Use hot water and 50 mL washing soda for each load; do this once for all your laundry, then switch to:

Laundry powder or 250 mL pure soap flakes or powder, 25 to 50 mL washing soda (sodium carbonate)

If you have really hard water in your area, increase the amount of washing soda -- it's a very efficient water softener.
Dish detergent 500 mL grated hard bar soap or soap flakes, 4 L water

Grate bar soap. Place soap in a pot; add water and stir. Heat over medium heat until the mixture boils, stirring occasionally, until the soap dissolves. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool. Store in a tightly-covered container. (Not for use in an automatic dishwasher).
Automatic dishwasher detergents A homemade substitute can be made using equal parts of borax and washing soda; increase the amount of soda if your water is very hard.
Rug cleaners and spot removers Greasy soil and odors can be removed from carpets by sprinkling them generously with a mixture of two parts cornmeal and one part borax. Leave for one hour, then vacuum thoroughly. For spills, sponge the rug promptly with a mixture of vinegar and water. Then sponge with clean water, and pat dry.

Spot removers:
Grease: Rub the stain with a damp cloth dipped in borax. Or apply a paste of cornstarch and water; let it dry and brush it off.

Ink: For an ink stain on white fabric, wet the fabric with cold water and apply a paste of lemon juice and cream of tartar. Let it stand for an hour, then wash as usual.

Red Wine: Clean immediately with club soda.

Blood Stains: Sponge or wash in cold water immediately. Add salt to the soaking water if stain is dry, then wash in hot or warm suds.

Grass Stains: Rub with liquid dish soap, and launder.
Silver polish A clean, low-cost alternative is to soak silver items in this solution until they are clean.

1 L warm water, 5 mL baking soda, 5 mL salt, Sm. piece of aluminum foil
Tub and tile cleaner Baking soda and a damp cloth will clean a tub as efficiently as commercial scouring powders, which may contain bleach, phosphate builders, or corrosive ingredients. Use an old toothbrush to get at the grout. For a general-purpose scouring powder, try this recipe:

50 mL pure soap flakes or powder, 10 mL borax, 375 mL boiling water, 50 mL calcium carbonate powder

Dissolve the borax and soap in the boiling water. Cool to room temperature, add calcium carbonate, and pour into a sealed plastic or glass container. Shake well before using. If you want it to be more abrasive, add more calcium carbonate, 15 mL at a time, until it is right for you.

For more tips on how to be a friend of the environment, visit DEC's website.