is getting very suspicious about our
excessive use of hydrogen peroxide!
We don’t exclusively clean our home
in an eco-friendly way, but we try
to be very conscious about it. We
would like to teach our children – the
future generation – about keeping the
environment clean, and the impact
that ‘regular’ products might have
on it. We often point out the sewage
in Hong Kong’s harbour and the
dead fish that we watch while we are
floating from atop the Star Ferry.”
H2O help
Another Hong Kong mum who has
changed her cleaning habits is Therese
Tee, but unlike Barbara and Laura,
she does not use either eco-friendly
or home-made cleaning products.
Instead, she uses just water. So how
can she be sure her home is clean and
free from potentially hazardous germs
if she is not zapping them with any
sort of bug-busting concoction?
Therese, an ENJO (chemical-
free cleaning system) consultant,
explains, “I have been using ENJO
fibres for the past four years – they
have all been certified and tested to
remove 99.9 per cent of all dirt and
bacteria – and just water. It is the
only truly green way to clean your
home chemical-free because it uses
only water. There is no need to rinse
any detergents or chemicals. Other
so-called ‘environmentally friendly’
cleaners take up to 28 days to break
down in the waterways, and, at the
end of the day, they are still chemicals.
Would you let your kids drink it? Not
to mention the ridiculous amount of
rubbish generated from these cleaning
products.”
Banishing conventional cleaning
products from her household has
had benefits, says Therese. “I saw
how my eldest daughter Brianna’s
dry skin improved … Children are
so susceptible to all the residue from
chemical cleaners and from breathing
all the VOCs in these cleaners. Many
adults also complain about the smell
of bleach and cleaners making them
nauseous. Daily exposure to these
toxins that many voluntarily buy and
bring into their homes really isn’t
healthy.” The amount of chemical
cleaning products we are all storing in
our cupboards is staggering, according
to Therese. She says, “With 2.5
million households in Hong Kong,
and on average 20 chemical cleaners
and bottles in each household, we are
living in a very toxic and hazardous
environment in the personal space
that is so precious to us that we like to
call home.”
Cutting down on – or kicking –
our conventional chemical cleaner
dependency could have many benefits.
It would give a much-needed helping
hand to our beleaguered environment
and our homes may become healthier
spaces. But you don’t have to go
completely cold turkey, switching from
industrial strength bleach to old-
school baking soda overnight. Barbara
concludes, “If every family did just a
little bit, the future environment for
our children would look brighter.”
We don’t
exclusively clean
our home in an
eco-friendly way,
but we try to be
very conscious
about it.
Barbara Ashbrook offers the following tips to keep things spick-and-span, using
just a few simple household ingredients, such as baking soda, white vinegar and
hydrogen peroxide.
•
To clean windows
:
put equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Simply
spray on, then dry with a soft cloth.
•
To remove bathroommould:
put three parts vinegar and two parts water in a
spray bottle, spray onto mould, leave for half an hour and rinse off.
•
To clean floors:
mix half a cup of hydrogen peroxide with five litres of water for
a mild floor wash.
•
To clean furniture:
dust with a damp cloth.
•
To polish wood:
give it a coat of beeswax when spring cleaning.
•
To unblock drains:
mix one cup of salt and half a cup of baking soda, pour
down the drain, then pour down a kettle full of boiling water.
•
To clean burnt baking trays and saucepans:
put a layer of baking soda and
hydrogen peroxide on the tray and let it sit for half an hour. Add more baking
soda over the top, then wait a bit longer. When you scrub it off, it will look like new.
•
To clean sterling silver:
put a layer of aluminium foil in the bottom of a small
bowl, cover with one cup of hot water and one tablespoon each of salt, baking
soda and dishwashing detergent. Let the jewellery sit on the foil for ten minutes,
then rinse in cool water and dry with a soft cloth.
•
To get rid of the “boy bathroom” smell:
mix a paste of baking soda and lemon
juice (consistency should be like a pancake mix). Spread the paste over the
toilet right down to the floor, leave for 15 minutes, then spray with white vinegar
and let it fizz. Once it has stopped fizzing, wipe with a damp cloth.
•
To soften clothes:
use white vinegar instead of fabric conditioner. Barbara
says, “It does the same job as shop-bought fabric softener, and it doesn’t clog
the washing machine. I was told this by a top maintenance guy years ago, and I
have used it ever since. The clothes won’t smell of vinegar.”
•
To get stains out of white fabric:
soak fabric in three per cent hydrogen
peroxide before washing.
Greening your cleaning
April 2013
49