Many of us care about the environment – some of us even go beyond the extra mile and take the effort to donate towards conservation groups and make important lifestyle changes to help clean up the planet.
However, what if the problem is closer to home than we think? Before we clean the planet, it’s important for us to take a look at how we clean our homes.
For decades, harmful and toxic substances in household cleaning products have contributed to the pollution crisis across the globe. In the United States alone, a staggering 2.8 billion kilograms of cleaning supplies are manufactured and most often, irresponsibly discarded – while the requirement of paper towels and other supplies eats up around 30 million trees per year.
In short, the green cleaning revolution is long overdue. Here’s 10 excellent reasons for you to make the switch, to benefit the health of yourself, your home, and your planet.
1. Personal Safety
Pick up any cleaning liquid bottle and you’re sure to see a host of alarming warnings – suggesting that the substance can result in poisoning and even death. While this isn’t an issue for most responsible adults, accidents always happen – many cleaning products may contain traces of chlorine and ammonia, which combine to form the deadly gas chloramine. In small amounts, it can lead to various issues such as rashes and eye irritation – in larger concentrations, it can lead to comas and even death.
The risk is even further deepened if you happen to have children or pets in your home. Not only are they generally unaware about the risks and may consume cleaning supplies when unsupervised – since they’re smaller in size, the toxic effects can turn out to be much more deadly. It’s far safer, therefore, to rely on more benign, natural cleaning solutions.
2. Overall Health
It’s often touted that our health is a function of our surroundings – so what does that imply when our homes are regularly sprayed, wiped down and scrubbed clean with potentially harmful chemicals?
In short – nothing good. Several cleaning products evaporate into a host of unhealthy vapors that can permeate throughout your home – resulting in health issues over time. On the less severe side, this can result in allergic reactions and skin/eye irritation – in the long term, it can induce chronic headaches, lung issues and even increase the risk of cancer.
Using natural products helps keep these harmful compounds out of your home. Several people report improved overall health after making the switch.
3. Safe Water Supply
One of the most invisible yet crucial factors to overall health is the quality of water we consume and use on a daily basis. When we use standard household cleaning agents, we flush massive amounts of chlorine, ammonia, and other chemicals down our drainage systems.
Naturally, these chemicals make their way into surrounding water bodies by means of the sewage system – in turn degrading the quality of water in our surroundings.
4. Reduced Asthma Risk
As we’ve mentioned above, air contamination within our homes is one of the biggest reasons to make the switch to healthier, natural cleaning products. While the fumes created by standard cleaning products can cause mild irritation, researchers also claim that they can result in higher risk for asthma – especially among young children.
5. Sustainable Packaging
Most big-name detergent and cleaning solution companies use unsustainable practices not just during their manufacturing process, but during their packaging process as well.
At Noout, we prefer to take the responsible option. All of our spray bottles are made of 100% recycled plastic, obtained from Dutch supermarkets.
6. Water-saving Measures
Water scarcity is an issue that directly affects thousands of communities across the world. With water accounting for over one-fifth of most cleaning products, it’s understood that billions of tonnes of water gets wasted each year by unsustainable, irresponsible product design.
The solution is simple and effective – we at Noout prefer to use cleaning tablets. This eliminates the need to waste fuel transporting water while keeping our manufacturing plants as non-wasteful as possible.
7. Less Antibacterials
You might wonder why this turns out as a positive – but it seems that science backs the notion that loading our cleaning products with antibacterial compounds might be a hindrance rather than a help.
One of the most widely used chemicals here is triclosan, which has been shown to increase hormonal irregularities while hampering the strength of our immune system with long-term exposure.
8. Consumer Transparency
With green cleaning products such as Noout, you’ll find a much more consumer-friendly and transparent approach to sharing our product details.
For instance, we base our cleaning tablets on a combination of citric acid, food coloring, allergen-free scents, biodegradable anionic surfactants and sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda) – all of which are natural and have minimal environmental risks.
9. Passes Government Regulations
Green cleaning products have become a major focus for health and safety regulations in many parts of the world. The EPA or Environmental Protection Agency tests and approves all cleaning products – this is an easy way to make sure that what you buy is safe and has been subjected to expert analysis.
10. Giving Back to Your Community
Making a difference starts at home, and then spreads through our family and friends. By using and sharing knowledge on green cleaning, we help ensure that not just us, but the communities around us live healthier and happier lives.
If you’re looking to make a change and protect your home from harmful chemicals, take a look at the best eco-friendly cleaning products on the market.
