Yes, we’re biased. As a leading supplier of eco-friendly household cleaners, of course, we are going to prefer items around the home that won’t damage the environment. However, that doesn’t mean we are wrong.
For generations, everyone from the newly minted mother in Australia to the midnight janitor in New York City has flooded surfaces with traditional cleaners full of damaging ingredients.
At a time when so many fingers are being pointed to rising car emissions or the occasional oil spill, another critical factor needs to be considered, and that is the subtle culprits lurking beneath our kitchen, bathroom, and closet sinks.
Just how are traditional cleaners making a significant impact on our natural environment?
Water Pollution
We need water to survive. It must be drinkable and free from any of the containments we know cause harm to our fragile internal systems. That is why it is an unsettling fact that the cleaning solutions we use end up in our various waterways.
Even the National Institutes of Health has pointed out that harmful chemicals in these cleaners get rinsed down our drains and have dire consequences on our aquatic ecosystems. Fish, plants, and other marine life suffer, causing a massive domino effect that translates directly to our dining room table. Switching to cleaners that offer a biodegradable alternative ensures they break down quickly, protecting marine life as well as the water we drink.
Single-Use Plastics
Most cleaning products are placed in plastic containers. This has to do with the efficiency of pricing as well as convenience in packaging. In total, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced since its introduction in the 1950s. That is way too much for the various waste facilities scattered worldwide.
Having an alternative where you can dilute the natural cleaner in a reusable water sprayer drastically reduces the volume of single-use plastics we toss into landfills. We need to opt for sustainable, green cleaning solutions.
Exporting Our Waste
As the dumps we rely on for trash management grow in size, we have begun shipping our excess waste to other countries to handle. Around 157,000 large (20-foot) shipping containers were sent to offshore waste facilities in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Instead of purchasing items we cannot manage in our internal systems, we need to focus on products that carry the Made in the U.S.A. certification. This keeps all the materials inside our circular recycling systems to reduce overall waste and have a positive impact on our efforts for balanced environmental sustainability.
The Shift Toward Sustainable Cleaning
The world is slowly waking up to the benefits of biodegradable, green cleaning products. They are a far more wise decision for our natural world as much as our pocketbooks. Using a product based on concentrate allows us to refill cleaners multiple times, proving to be far more economical in the long run.
Moreover, these products avoid harmful chemicals by being low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) and non-toxic compliant. These are the dangerous chemicals that evaporate into the air we breathe – leading to many health concerns. By switching to low-VOC products, we take a giant leap to a cleaner, healthier lifestyle.