Greener cleaning: green living at home

(Thomas M Perkins)

New releases from Canadian manufacturer iQ, re-launches from Bentley Organic and expansion from Eco Clean offer a range of environmentally friendly cleaning solutions.

The trend for green living extends past measures such as driving less and recycling more into how one takes care of the home. In response to increased consumer environmental awareness, manufacturers are working on products which minimize packaging waste and offer ecologically safer alternatives to traditional products.

The latest green initiative in home cleaning comes from Canadian startup Planet People and their iQ line of cleaning products. Their newest innovation is a small cartridge of non-toxic plant concentrate which can be dissolved in a pre-owned spray bottle filled with tap water to form a bottle of cleaning product. The REFill cartridge, released in July, is currently only available in select stores in the US and Canada and retails for approximately $2.69 (€2.10). It is hoped that the unique product will reduce consumption of single-use cleaners and therefore minimize landfill waste.

Environmentally friendly Danish brand Eco Clean launched a range of products in the US in June, and UK manufacturer Bentley Organic, which claims to have created the first all-natural household cleaners, re-launched its five-strong product range in March. Bentley Organic products are available at online supermarket chain Ocado retailing from $4.50- $7.62 (€3.50 -€5.95).

It is estimated that in North America alone, one billion cleaning bottles are discarded every year and 1 gallon of crude oil is required to produce 29 single-use plastic spray bottles. In addition to the packaging waste produced by conventional cleaning products, numerous cleaners such as bleach are toxic to fish and cleaners containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produce greenhouse gases which are damaging to the ozone layer.

Several government and environmental agencies such as World Watch and the European Commission advocate using common household products such as vinegar and baking soda in place of toxic cleaners. The European Commission also provides an extensive list of Europe wide eco-friendly labels and links to country-specific websites within the EU addressing the issue of environmental impact of cleaning products.

Environmentally friendly household cleaners are also available to buy worldwide from internet retail outlet Amazon.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1484

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/brochures/consumers/en/cleaning.pdf

www.iqclean.com

www.bentleyorganic.com

www.facebook.com/EcoCleanGlobal