Seed & Sprout Founder, Sophie Kovic: Eco Friendly Cleaning Tips for Organising a Greener Home
It's officially Spring - yay! The warm weather and lighter evenings gives us the perfect opportunity to start organising our homes. Now is the time to slow down to breathe, & to refresh our minds, our souls & our homes.
But how can we consciously ‘clear up’ without ‘clearing out’? Join us this Spring on a Detox journey PLUS go in the running to win over $2,000 worth of prizes! Read on below for the Ultimate in toxic free Spring Clean tips...
Keen to get started? Download our Spring Clean Checklist!!
By switching to clean, green & sustainable cleaning products, you're protecting our precious environment as well as your family's health. Did you know that may cleaning products can contain harmful chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs)? VOCs are a variety of chemicals that easily evaporate inot the air & pollute air quality. These chemicals can cause harmful effects on human health, including irritation of the eyes, nose, & throat, difficulty breathing, headaches, and nausea. In some cases, VOCs may cause cancer, reproductive and developmental toxicity, and harm to the nervous system according to recent studies.
Cleaning our home shouldn’t involve dirtying up the planet, so our guide is here to share our tips on how to avoid this as well as revealing our favourite eco-friendly cleaning products.
Chemical Free Cleaning
Making the switch to eco-friendly cleaning products is becoming more popular as we start to question the ingredients in more than just the food we eat. Our promise to you is that our sustainable cleaning products are Plastic-Free, Australian Made, Certified Palm Oil Free, Synthetic Fragrance Free, Vegan Friendly and don’t contain any nasties.
The quickest sustainable swap you can make is to select solid bars over liquid cleaning fluids. Our entire Bar range received the prestigious Good Design Award Winner 2022 in recognition for outstanding design as well the social & environmental impacts. Each of our Bars is equivalent to 3.5 plastic bottles so while we help you to save money, YOU save the planet from plastic & harsh chemicals.
- The Dish Bar; banish chemical heavy dishwashing liquid (& plastic containers) by switching to our Dish Bar. This top seller is rated 5 stars by our community! Each bar is equivalent to 3.5 x 300ml bottles of washing up liquid. Imagine how much plastic that will save! Good for you, good for the planet.
- The Vege Bar; when you're unsure where your fruit & veggies have come from (i.e. you didn't grow them yourself!), we suggest giving them a good wash prior to storing/eating. That's what our Vege Bar is for! You can rest easy knowing you've removed any nasty pesticides & other chemicals while enjoying the natural taste of your produce. The Vege bar leaves no aftertaste. Yay!
- The Stain Remover Laundry Bar; for a natural stain remover, you can't go past our Stain Remover Laundry Bar. This high performing bar with no nasties is so easy to use wet, apply, wait, wash! Infused with Lemon Myrtle and Eucalyptus essential oils (and certified 100% palm oil free), this eco-friendly product eliminates stains as well as plastic waste.
PS - each bar is housed in fully compostable packaging so there is literally zero waste!
PPS - our Bars have a 100% Performance Guaranteed, but...if you try one & you're not bar-lown away we'll refund you the full purchase price!
Avoid Synthetic (aka plastic!) Cleaning Products
Most commercial cleaning products like sponges & cloths are made from synthetic materials - even microfibre cloths are made from plastic! When these synthetic materials break down, they can enter our drains & our waterways, or they end up in landfill, unable to break down.
Switch it up & invest in plastic free, reusable or compostable cleaning products instead:
1. Hemp Tea Towel; perfect for drying dishes or vegetables, covering dough, wrapping bread or covering food at picnics or BBQs is the Hemp Tea Towel. Our Hemp is also GOTS certified which ensures that it’s produced in an environmentally & socially responsible way.
2. Compostable Sponges; a straight replacement for your old plastic scourer is our eco-friendly Compostable Sponge. The loofah side is tough enough for scrubbing pots, pans, & stubborn marks, while the cellulose sponge is perfect for everyday use (on dishes, benches, bathrooms etc.). The beauty of our eco-friendly sponges is that they’re fast drying & completely compostable!
3. Cellulose Sponge; banish dishcloths AND paper towel in one hit with our practical & planet-friendly Cellulose Sponge - our eco-friendly & sustainable alternative that can soak up 20x their own weight in liquid! This beauty doubles as a sponge & paper towel. Pop it in your washing machine, & it's good to go once again (for up to 6 months!). Dispose of the cellulose sponge in your compost bin when you're due for a new sponge.
Detoxify your life from plastics (& nasty chemicals) that clutter up your cupboards & damage our environment by switching to eco-friendly cleaning products today.
Now is your time to slow down, breathe & refresh. Go forth and sparkle with sustainability!
Sources:
1. Temkin AM, Geller SL, Swanson SA, Leiba NS, Naidenko OV, Andrews DQ. Volatile organic compounds emitted by conventional and “green” cleaning products in the U.S. market. Chemosphere. 2023;341:139570. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.139570
