Green Cleaning Products

Guest post generously contributed by Rae Ann Dougherty, owner of Green Cleaning Products LLC. Rae Ann has 35 years experience as the environmental and sustainability leader in multiple large multinational corporations and is now working to implement changes at the individual level. She can be reached at RaeAnn@GreenCleaningProductsLLC.com.

Green Cleaning Products are now Designed for the Environment

Earth Day began 40 years ago in 1970. Over the past four decades the ambient air pollutants that have been regulated in the United States has significantly decreased.

Today indoor air is often more polluted than outdoor air! While much attention is paid to outdoor air pollution the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U. S. EPA) has found that levels of air pollution inside the home can be two to five times higher (and sometimes even 100 times higher) than outside levels. This is noteworthy since we spend the vast majority of our time (87%) indoors.

While we have made huge strides, our homes have become miniature chemical factories because of the detergents, degreasers, stain removers and pesticides we use. The problem is exacerbated when we clean in small unventilated spaces such as a windowless bathroom, where levels of cleaning chemicals in the air can be highly concentrated. Cleaning products are everywhere in our homes and get everywhere when we use them – on our dishes, countertops, floors, hands, etc. Many of the chemicals found in our homes are used to make our lives easier, but not necessarily safer.

While the initial focus of environmental control was towards the industrial operations, today the focus turns to individual actions in our home. I currently focus on educating about the importance of using green cleaning products. While this may not seem like a significant issue, the household cleaning products industry is huge. In fact in 2005 it was a $14.4 Billion industry in the United States alone! Unfortunately advertisements fail to mention that many cleaners (even the green cleaning products) contain chemicals that may actually be harmful to the environment and to our health. It is for this reason that the interest for green cleaning products exists and is growing. No longer are toxic traditional cleaning products such as the once popular “Mr. Clean” considered as the good guys that they once were.

The chemical ingredients that are found in traditional cleaners (sulfates, phosphates, phenols, bleach, and ammonia) have been found to affect our health. These contribute to aliments such as asthma, reproductive damage, nerve damage, even cancer. Exasperating the situation is that these toxic chemicals have even been found in household dust causing a lingering impact long after cleaning is complete.

Thus the drive to know what is in our cleaners and the search for green cleaning products. This is no longer limited to the consumers, and consumer-protection groups, but has now spread to the governments, and even a few manufacturers! Unfortunately many companies refuse to disclose all of the ingredients in their products. As a result consumer’s seeking green cleaning products must carefully examine the product labels. Cleaners that call themselves “organic” or “all-natural” can and have been found to include questionable and toxic chemicals.

Green is in … in everything we do, in fact it has grown to be so widespread that we now have greenwashing, the practice of making false or deceptive environmental claims. So common is greenwashing that the U.S. EPA has just (in 2010) introduced a new program known as “Design for the Environment (DfE)/Safer Product Recognition”. Those manufacturers whose products substitute harmful ingredients with the safer ones become DfE “partners” and their products are labeled with the DfE Seal of Approved. (The DfE program also provides a list of those green cleaning products that make the grade.) Look for the label!

Finally we are able to begin to understand what is in our green cleaning products! The DfE program bases their assessment on a list of “CleanGredients”. CleanGredients provides up-to-date, scientifically credible information about the ingredient human and environmental health attributes. Because the ingredient data are verified by an independent third-party, CleanGredients is recognized as a trusted source of chemical product information. In particular, CleanGredients helps businesses meet the U.S. EPA’s rigorous DfE criteria in order to use the DfE seal of approval.

Through the nutrition labels on our food we have become accustomed to understand what we are eating. Now we can do the same for our green cleaning products. Look for the DfE label!

© 2010 by Rae Ann Dougherty