According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air pollution is no small problem. With the possibility of the air inside your home being anywhere from twice to 100 times as polluted as air in your backyard, replacing your household cleaners with eco-friendly alternatives is an easy fix for a huge problem. Besides  reducing the toxicity of your home environment, these alternatives also reduce the amount of harmful chemicals in the waste stream.

When “greening” your cleaning habits, you have two choice paths as far as products are concerned — you can make your own reusing other household products or (nowadays) you can just buy earth-friendly alternatives at your local supermarket.

Making your own

Annie B. Bond, green living editor for Care2.com, recommends these simple and safe chemicals to use in your home. You’ve heard of all of them:

1. Baking Soda. Sprinkle it on a sponge or cloth and baking soda, a  natural deodorizer, can be used to clean countertops, sinks, bathtubs and even the ever-tough to clean oven.

2.Washing Soda. Closely related to baking soda, but a bit more alkaline and a touch stronger, use washing soda to cut grease on counters and sinks. It releases zero toxic fumes, but wear gloves because it is caustic.

3. Lemon Juice and White Vinegar. Naturally acidic and therefore safe to use, these two are perfect for dissolving tarnish and dirt.

Visit ecocycle for recipes using these ingredient for everything from glass cleaner to furniture polish.

Buying Green

While this still keeps toxic chemicals out of your house and the waste stream, you might consider the inherently unfriendly impact of mass manufacturing, especially when you can make your own. Still, there are a number of eco-friendly cleaning product lines sold at your local supermarket. Here are our recommendations:

1. Seventh Generation. Seventh Generation brand-name products include: non-chlorine bleached, 100% recycled paper towels, bathroom and facial tissues, and napkins; non-toxic, phosphate-free cleaning, dish and laundry products; plastic trash bags made from recycled plastic; chlorine-free baby diapers, training pants, and baby wipes; and chlorine-free feminine care products, including organic cotton tampons, according to their web site.

2. Simple Green. “The original green cleaner,” Simple Green now offers products for everything from the kitchen to your car. They also sell kits, starting at $9.99.

3. Clorox Greenworks line.  Yup, even Clorox is now offering green products.

Lastly, a well-put reminder from Grist:

“If you’re in the mood to detoxify, getting rid of germs doesn’t have to mean overkill: This is your home, not a hospital. In 2000, cleaning products were responsible for nearly 10 percent of all toxic exposures reported to the U.S. poison control centers, accounting for more than 206,000 calls, over half of which concerned children under the age of six. According to Philip Dickey of the Washington Toxics Coalition, the most acutely or immediately hazardous cleaning products are corrosive drain cleaners, oven cleaners, acidic toilet-bowl cleaners, and anything containing chlorine or ammonia.”

By Amelia Harnish

Photo by: ElyseFeliz via flickr