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March 29, 2010
Green your spring cleaning: detoxify & recycle
Nola PoirierFor bchydro.com
There was a chorus of frogs serenading last night's sleep, a roly-poly bearcub in the backyard this morning, and just now a clumsy bee doing tumbles asit attempted to land. Ah, spring.
Spring is a time for new growth topped with sudden flourishes of colour; atime for sowing tiny powerful seeds into the sun-warmed earth, – anda time for cleaning out the basement, storage unit, or garage. Like I said:ah, spring.
Out here, the second spring on my ramshackle plot of land, it's time for anothercleanup. Last year, buried beneath layers of bicep-thick blackberry, I foundmy share of spring cleaning "treasures":
- All the pieces of a car, right down to a pair of leather driving gloves;
- A fibreglass boat so rotten there was a sapling growing through it;
- And a collapsed metal shed filled with old tins of paint, plastic toys,and a pile of about 80 spent motor oil containers.
This year I'm clearing out the basement and the woodshed. Cleaning up my ownmess is bad enough, but cleaning up years' worth of other people's messes canbe disheartening.
Disheartening, but also enlightening. Finding all those paint tins and plasticin the shed was like stepping into the future for a moment and seeing all ofmy own garbage laid out, and what would become of it.
As I see it, there are three parts to non toxic spring cleaning:
- Use gentle, truly biodegradable cleaners;
- Recycle or find proper disposal for all the things you don't need anymore;
- Shift what you buy, so that you have fewer things – and only nontoxic things – that you need to dispose of.
1. Green cleaning
Since the 1950's, commercials for housecleaning have made it a social andhealth imperative to have kitchens so shiny you can see your reflection inthem. Unfortunately, this obsession with sterilizing our living space has comewith high environmental and health costs. Many of those cleaners and bleachesand rinse poison into water bodies, and into our bodies; while disposable towelsand mops clog our landfills.
When you think about cleaning, think about what is truly clean: unpollutedwater, uncontaminated soil, and healthy bodies. Here are some tips to get youstarted on green spring-cleaning:
- White vinegar and baking soda are some of the best household cleaners.Put one part vinegar, one part water in a spray bottle. Use baking soda forplaces that need some extra scrubbing.
- Look online at places like eartheasy.com formore non toxic cleaning ideas.
- Read the labels on store-bought products. If they say things like 'poison'or 'warning,' it would be wise to use caution before buying them.
- Avoid cleaners that contain ammonia, it's highly irritating to the lungs.This is another place where white vinegar does a great job.
- For cleaning patios and walkways, stay away from the pressure washer. Sure,it's quick, but it uses A LOT of water. You can keep your patios clean witha stiff outdoor broom, a bucket of warm water and a soft scrubber. Sweepingeach week, and cleaning up stains as soon as they occur will keep your patiofrom needing to be pressure washed for years to come.
2. Recycling and disposal
After reducing what you buy, recycling is the next best way to decrease wasteproduction and the use energy and resources to manufacture new items.
- Take clothing and other household items to thrift stores, especially onesthat use the proceeds to support local charities. Ensure all your items areclean and in usable condition, so you don't transfer your burden to someoneelse. Some homeless shelters also accept these items. Call ahead to findout.
- For larger items, sell them or give them away on one of the free onlineservices, like Craigslist or Kijiji.
- Dispose of toxic items such as oil paint and chemical cleaners at yourcommunity's hazardous waste disposal centre. Never put them down your drainor into the sewer.
- Check out Encorp Pacific's Return-itElectronics and the RecyclingCouncil of B.C. for more information on where to recycle unwanted items.
3. Shifting how you shop
Changing what you buy affects resource use and pollution at both the manufacturingand disposal ends of the cycle. Buying only things you need, and finding itemsthat are made from readily biodegradable or recyclable materials goes a longway to reducing toxic build up on our planet.
- Plastic makes up about 90%of all trash floating the world's oceans. It is literally killing ourfish, sea birds and other ocean-reliant creatures.
- Plastics break down into tiny pieces, but they don't go away. They gettaken up by progressively smaller creatures, and then build up again throughthe food web. Cutting your plastic use down – or out – is essentialto help stop this deadly cycle.
- Recycling is not a standalone solution. It often involves someone havingto remove toxics from an object and then disposing of the various components.The best option is to reduce your use of items that don't readily biodegrade.
- Look for products that embody Cradleto Cradle design. This involves making things that are a positive partof nature's cycles at every step – from design, to manufacture, tobreak down.
For more ideas on how to care for your home and community, watch for BC Hydro'sGreen Your Community guides, coming online later this spring.
Nola Poirier is a freelance writer based on the Sunshine Coast and a regularcontributor to UnplugThis Blog!
