Clean Green!

Theses tips, suggestions, and bits of knowledge are quoted from the October 25 Daily Press (Hampton/Newport News VA) from an article by Cathy Grimes. Full article can be found here: http://www.dailypress.com/features/dp-go-green-stories,0,2436506.storygallery

• "Veggie Power"- Look for vegetable based cleaners. If EVERY household in the United Staes made their next cleaner a vegetable one instead of a 28 ounce bottle of petroleum baded dishwashing soap we would save 82,000 barrels of oil! That's enough to drive one car more than 86 million miles!
• "Concentrate!"- Buy concentrated cleaners. Water is the main ingredient in many ready-to-use cleaners, adds to the weight of the product, meaning it costs more to package and ship. Concentrated products - the kind that require you to add your own water - save packaging waste and fuel costs. If you buy them in recyclable containers, you also reduce the strain on landfills
• "Avoid paper!"- Reusable, washable sponges and clothes work as well, if not better than use-once-and-toss paper towels or disposable clothes. If every household reduced its use of paper towels by one roll, the savings would equal 1.4 million trees and 3.7 million cubic-feet of landfill space.
• "Wash efficiently!"- If you use a dishwasher, wait until it is full to run it. You'll save on water and energy costs while you save the environment. The same goes for clothes. Wash and dry large loads, and if you can air dry, do.
• "Clean wisely!"- Look for dry cleaners that use nontoxic solvents. Most dry cleaners "wash" clothes in drums with highly toxic solvents, such as erchloroethylene. About 12 million pounds of these chemicals are released into the air each year, adding to the toxic soup that affects the climate
• "Go Natural!"- Stock up on people-friendly cleaning products. Many environmental organizations recommend using baking soda, white vinegar, lemon juice and borax. Baking soda can be used like sink cleansing powder and also can freshen rooms and rugs. Vinegar works well on glass and cuts soap scum. Lemon juice removes stains and fights odors. Borax also removes stains and boosts laundry detergent's cleaning power.

Looking for places to buy eco-friendly products? I recommend these two locally owned businesses (and use them for our store and house supplies!): Greenlinepaper & Eco Products. com