5 common ingredients you should be using to clean your home in an environmentally conscious manner

The year is 2020, and the term, sustainability, has assumed a spot in common parlance. You’ve likely heard it dropped into conversations about slow fashion by the office water cooler. However, our collective responsibility towards preserving the environment doesn’t end at the wardrobe. The harsh chemicals present in household cleaning products are equally to blame for endangering waterbodies and the aquatic life present within.

For further proof of the fatal threat that the run-off from cleaning products poses to the environment, look to Shaan Lalwani. The young entrepreneur quit her job as a mechanical engineer and founded the sustainable cleaning products label, Coco Custo, in 2017. A scuba diving trip in Mauritius brought her face-to-face with the fact that cleaning chemicals had killed all the coral life in shallow water. Upon returning, she decided to put her everyday choices under the scanner. Unable to find a cleaning alternative that used sustainable ingredients, wasn’t packaged in plastic, and delivered the same results as the traditional alternatives, she decided to quit her job and create it herself. “The oceans are the lungs of our planet, and are responsible for producing over 50 per cent of the world’s oxygen. Besides being beautiful, coral reefs also support 25 per cent of all marine life on Earth. Traditional household cleaning agents contain a number of chemicals that can adversely impact the environment. Phosphates, which are a large component in detergents, have caused the Bellandur Lake in Bengaluru to foam up year after year, leading to oxygen deprivation in freshwater and acute toxicity for aquatic life. Other chemicals like linear alkylbenzene sulphonates, which traditional detergents use, can kill coral life even at a minute concentration of 0.05 per cent,” she elaborates.

Beyond the environmental implications, Lalwani recommends adopting a sustainable approach to cleaning for safeguarding our own health as well. “Any product that lists ‘fragrance’ and not natural essential oils to give it a scent contains parabens, which are known endocrine disruptors and mess with hormones. Borax, which some natural detergents use, can also be harmful for fertility. It also happens to be a proven endocrine disruptor. Other chemicals you need to look out for are sodium hypochlorite and titanium dioxide. To be safe, it pays to avoid anything with the words sulphate, sulphite, or sulphonate,” she cautions.

If you’d rather not invite harmful chemicals into your house, the switch to sustainable cleaning products is a logical one. However, you’ll want to watch out for unsubstantiated claims of ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ products that are used to bait the conscious shopper with an abundance of greenery and foliage in the product packaging. If you are looking for sustainable cleaning methods that are good for you, and even better for the environment, it pays to go au naturel. Simply allow nature’s many gifts to do the job for you, without posing any threat to the environment. To make the task easier, we’ve rounded up five ingredients you can look towards to clean each type of surface in your home in a sustainable manner.

For bathroom surfaces: Vinegar

Fighting a losing battle against the stubborn stains on bathroom mirrors and windows? Repurpose a spraying bottle to make your own green bathroom cleaner. Take a quarter cup of vinegar and mix it with four cups of warm water. Spray over any glass surfaces and wipe it down with an old newspaper until you hear that satisfying squeaky clean sound.

For the kitchen sink: Baking soda

This humble powder serves as an all-purpose saviour for dealing with the greasiness and grime lurking in the kitchen sink. Simply sprinkle baking soda on your usual cleaning sponge and give the sink a vigorous rub-down. Follow up with a damp cloth to sop up any residue of the powder.

For marble tops: Acetone

Marble tops are notorious for attracting stains, but instead of reaching for an aggressive cleaner, allow your favourite nail polish remover to take on the task instead. To clean oil-based stains, start by blotting the spillage. Then, mix a pinch of baking soda with acetone until it makes a smooth paste. Apply an even layer on the stain, and rinse it off gently the next morning to make your marble good as new again.

For taps and sinks: Kosher salt

This iodine-free alternative to regular salt works like a charm for dislodging any soap scum that gets accumulated around the taps and in the sink. Sprinkle a sufficient amount of kosher salt over the required areas, scrub it clean with a sponge, and rinse away the residue.

For wooden furniture: Olive oil

Allow this Italian culinary marvel to roll up its sleeves and go to town on those pesky scratches on your wooden furniture. Opt for equal parts of olive oil and lemon juice, and rub the solution over scratches in wooden furniture to smoothen out the texture. In a pinch, olive oil can even be sprayed on squeaky door hinges.

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