Clean outdoor furniture with eco-friendly products
Why This is Green
How do you clean mold, mildew, and general grime off of your outdoor furniture without killing your grass and flowers? It’s simple: use natural, eco-friendly products or make your own by mixing together a few household essentials.
Your lungs will also benefit when you avoid harsh conventional cleaners. Depending on what you’re using, they can contain a whole host of hazardous, often petroleum-derived, chemicals including ammonia, glycol ethers, synthetic fragrances, and the antibacterial agent triclosan—which have been linked to cancer, asthma, hormone disruption, liver and kidney damage, and more. If ammonia mixes with chlorine bleach, it releases highly toxic chloramine gas.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find out what a cleaner actually contains as cleaning product formulas are currently considered government-protected trade secrets. Manufacturers aren’t required to disclose their contents to consumers. So they don’t. To avoid hazardous ingredients, look for warning labels on conventional products (bottles marked “danger” “poison” “toxic” and “hazardous” should be left on the store shelf).
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How To
Use a natural cleaner from a company that willingly discloses ingredients on their plant-based cleaners. You can check to see how products rate on the GoodGuide. Your furniture, lawn, and lungs will thank you, and, because they help keep wastewater clean, so will the fish.
Make your own effective and eco-friendly alternatives from baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, and hydrogen peroxide. White vinegar, baking soda, and water takes mildew off chairs with a scrubbing brush and little effort. For wicker furniture with no wooden parts, try mild soap and water.
Recommended Products
- EO All Purpose Soap in Meyer Lemon
- The Naturally Clean Home Book by Karyn Siegel-Maier
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