Alternative Recipes

Recipes for a Safer Home and a Cleaner Environment
For most jobs, baking soda and/or vinegar do the trick. Have large containers of each in your home--they are inexpensive and really work. Baking soda is great for things like making a ceramic sinks sparkle, and vinegar is great for cutting soap scum in the bathroom, and for doing windows. When you need to get a particular job done, the following recipes can really help. Happy cleaning!

INGREDIENTS What you'll need                                               KITCHEN All Purpose Cleaner Dish Soap Scouring Powder Scouring Paste Stain Remover Drain Cleaner Garbage Pail Deodorizer Oven Cleaner LAUNDRY Laundry Soap Fabric Softener Bleach Diaper Pail Deodorizer Stains BATHROOM Tub & Tile Cleaner Mold & Mildew Plastic Shower Curtain Antiseptic Soap Spray Bathroom Deodorizer Toilet Bowl Cleaner FLOORS All Purpose Floor Cleaner No-Wax Floor Cleaner Tile Floor Cleaner Wood Floor Polish METAL CLEANERS Brass & Copper Cleaner Chrome Cleaner Silver Cleaner LIVING ROOM Glass Cleaner Leather Cleaner Wood Furniture Polish Carpet Deodorizer Carpet & Upholstery Stain Remover

Why Bother with Alternatives? What does non-toxic really mean? How do I choose the best alternative retail products? Why bother with alternatives. Many commercial cleaners contain substances that are toxic and can burn skin or eyes on contact. Without proper ventilation, their use can also cause injury from harmful fumes. According to the Poison Control Center, in 1997 there were approximately 230,000 overexposures nationwide to household cleaners of which 7 were fatal. Thoughtless disposal of hazardous products can have harmful impacts on people and the environment. Disposal in trash, or pouring them down the drain, can disrupt wastewater systems, seriously injure waste handlers, and contaminate drinking water. What we mean by non-toxic. This page offers non-toxic cleaning recipes for a safer home and cleaner environment. Non-toxic cleaners are cleaners that you can use relatively safely, as compared to other commercial cleaning products (which range from fairly safe to extremely dangerous). This does not mean that you can safely eat non-toxic cleaners or spray them in your eyes. Always label your home-made cleaners and keep them out of the reach of children. These recipes generally work just as well as commercial cleaners and are less expensive. With the use of essential oils, non-toxic cleaners can smell more pleasant than commercial cleaners. Many of the recipes on this page are from Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan. For more recipes and information on household cleaners, this is an excellent resources well worth reading. Other books: Clean and Green , Annie Berthold-Bond. New York: Ceres Press, 1990. Nontoxic and Natural: A Guide for Consumers; How to Avoid Dangerous Everyday Products and Buy or Make Safe Ones, Debra Lynn Dadd. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1984. Choosing the best alternative retail products. The best way to tell if a product is hazardous is to read the label. DANGER indicates the product is extremely hazardous: a taste could be fatal. WARNING and CAUTION signal a somewhat lesser hazard. Select products with a CAUTION label over those with WARNING or DANGER. The best selection is one with no hazards.

Ingredients: What You'll Need

Greater Upper Valley Solid Waste Management District
96 Mill Street, PO Box 58, No. Hartland, VT 05052-0058
Phone (802)296-3688  |  Fax 281-7088  |  E-mail GUVSWD@valley.net