Green Cleaning: Indoors

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Searching for a cleaning product nowadays can be a complicated matter. All sorts of different specialized cleaners line the shelves, each promising a unique cleansing benefit for your home. But if you really want a healthier home, it’s time to ditch the dozens of toxic cleaners and go simpler—and greener—for the health of your family and your environment. Need convincing? Our primer on greening your grime-busting is a good place to start. Green Cleaners’ Effectiveness One of the first questions most people have about greener cleaners is simple: Do they work? In short, the answer is yes. “People have this idea green cleaners don’t work as well, but that’s not the case,” says Emily Main, senior editor at National Geographic’s new earth-conscious publication Green Guide. “The fact that a company like Clorox is now getting into the green cleaning business is a good testament to the fact the natural ingredients being used works as well as other counterparts.” Many people protest they just don’t feel like their house is clean unless they have used something like bleach or ammonia to scrub it down, but Main says natural options like vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are just as effective without being toxic polluters. “Hydrogen peroxide is used to clean wounds in hospitals,” she says. “So, why would you think it wouldn’t work in your kitchen?” And while many people associate the smell of bleach with the idea of clean, Jeanie Pyun, editor of Sprig.com, a green lifestyle-without-sacrifice web site from the Washington Post company, says we’re fooling ourselves if we think bleach means better health. “Green cleaners will still get your home sparkling and kill off harmful bacteria,” she says. “But using bleach, ammonia and harsh anti-bacterial soaps can actually lead to stronger strains of bacteria that are harder for our immune system to ward off.” Toss the Toxins Many people think if a product is used in the home setting, it can’t really be that bad. That’s a dangerous misconception, says Lori Bongiorno, author of the book, Green, Greener, Greenest. “Conventional cleaning products contain some of the most hazardous chemicals most of us encounter on a daily basis, and the toxic residues remain on surfaces and clothing. Despite our excessive phobias about germs, humans don’t need to live in a completely antiseptic environment.”

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