Ditch bottles and boxes - go soapnuts!
A toxic moment?
What on earth are you talking about woman?
(Note: ‘on earth’ being the important words here.)
I had my definitive toxic moment in 2005 - here’s a little background to it.
I was researching for an article I was writing on cleaning products, having read yet another piece on the rising rates of respiratory illnesses and skin complaints and the links that were being made to the toxic chemicals found in everyday cleaning goods.
Further investigation found a very provocative piece on the BBC news website talking about, ‘Chemicals found in perfumes and cleaning products crossing the placenta and reaching the baby in the womb’; see below for further details.
Generally speaking, the manufacturers tell us the levels of chemicals used in these products are ’safe’ and ‘their’ research supports this, but nobody has tested for problems caused by the cumulative effects to the users of Chemical Cleaning Product A, Product B, C, D, E and so on…
Now housework really isn‘t my thing in life and to be honest, I’m quite happy to co-exist with a little grubby dirt. Couple that with the fact that I’d been writing about eco-friendly alternatives to the popular squirty guns and add to it my irritation for the dozen or so plastic vessels nestled in the back of the cupboard under my sink, that hadn’t been used in ages and were probably now capable of stripping industrial paint and you’ll find yourself at the edge of my ‘toxic moment’.
I knew there were lots of planet friendly solutions available (many of which already resided in my kitchen cupboards) and the time had arrived for a major clear out.
(By the way, there are a few green cleaning tips to be found in the book but I’ll also be giving you step-by-step guides to help you clean the house and your gorgeous self on this blog in due course, so be sure to click the RSS feed button at the top of this website to have my news and top tips delivered as soon as they are published, but for now, back to my ‘toxic moment’.)
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great when the time arrives and you feel ready to dump all those half-filled bottles and jars, but it comes with a set of unique dilemmas.
1) They still have stuff in them, I’m not a wasteful person, but I want a healthier alternative and something I can have refilled - surely that’s an awful waste of product and money?
2) If I’m going to dump it all, what do I do? Do I pour the chemical cocktail down the sink, or dig a hole and bury it in the garden so as not to contaminate the water system, or do I sling it all in the bin which will head to landfill and cause a problem there instead?
1 + 2 = guilt, guilt, guilt!
I’m not perfect by a long chalk and when my moment arrived I couldn’t fight it any longer. I was being fuelled by a passion, an irritation and an urgency to get rid of the stuff, once and for all.
I planned a time when everybody was going to be out and I went through the entire house collecting all the offending articles and I took them into the downstairs loo.
I opened the window to give me good ventilation and tipped every last one of them down the sink. In hindsight, I realise this was probably not the best decision I’d ever made as I watched the viscous fluorescent liquids blend into a claggy mass, but I saw this as a one time only experience and I wanted to have complete control over it.
These products would never cross over my threshold again and the liberation from that feeling of clarity was almost indescribable.
It felt fantastic to be free from their media perpetuated grip and their questionable influence on the health of my home, myself, my family and the greater environment, even if I had polluted the water system with a terrifying job lot.
All of the empty vessels where appropriate were recycled, but the majority probably met their final resting place at the doorstep of landfill, which I hated the thought of, but I felt entirely liberated to know it would never happen again.
My toxic moment had come and gone and I hated and loved every second of it.
Are you drawing close to having a toxic moment?
I’d love to hear from you with the circumstances of what’s brought it on, how you plan to do it and how you feel afterwards…
Rubbishly yours,
TSx
NB: Do check out the options for disposal with your local civic amenity site or district council and see what they can do with your un-emptied bottle collection - here’s the news from mine in West Dorset.
I telephone to ask what I should do with a batch of half empty bottles. They said I could take it to my local civic amenity site, but that all bottles needed to be secured and clearly labelled or re-labelled if necessary and they would dispose of the contents safely but they couldn’t explain what safely was in more detail.
On their website, there’s further information.
“We provide collection banks situated around the district for collecting plastic bottles only. Plastic packaging, including bottles, is lightweight and bulky which makes it extremely costly to collect and transport to reprocessors, especially in a sparsely populated rural district. In fact carbon dioxide (CO2) a known greenhouse gas, is released from transport emissions and can undo the benefits of recycling. Kerbside recycling vehicles have a limited capacity. If we filled these vehicles with bulky plastic bottles it would inevitably mean additional trips to the waste facility.”
For additional reading on chemicals in cleaning products: -
BBC’s news story on cleaning product chemicals and pregnancy
Another piece from the BBC (31/08/08) on perfumes, chemicals and pregnancy
Women and Environment’s shocking take on it all
For a great range of planet friendly cleaning products, with refills available from local stockists, or just buy the bigger bottles and refill your own, see Bio-d items at ‘The Natural Collection‘.
…and finally, do your research well! Don’t take the first thing you find as definitive! There’s lots of trusted source information out there - arm yourself with knowledge and make life-long changes, that might make your life longer…
What a great idea. I’m going to head for my kitchen cupboards at the first opportunity.
I had my toxic moment when pregnant. Here, inside me, I had perfect life forming; a clean slate and I was determined to have an organic, ‘clean slate’ babe! So out went the chemicals and in came the kitchen ingredients.
I even washed my hair with bicarbonate of soda for about 3 years and used cyder vinegar for a rinse…………..
I’ve saved HEAPS of money, not to mention all sorts of chemicals and plastic ending up in the landfill. Plus hubby doesn’t have to wait an hour for me to get ready. LOL!
Hi Brenda,
So pleased to hear this has inspired you and I’d love to hear about what happens next!
TSx
Hi Mrs G - always a pleasure to have your learned comment!
I know exactly what you mean about the ‘children’ connection and I’d certainly been weaning off of the ‘real nasties’ since they came into the world, but the trouble is, you have to dig around to find out the truth about what’s in these bottles of jollop (and you had to do moreso 10 years back when my first one arrived).
Now, with the aid of the Internet, things are certainly more expedient and with transparency being the ethical trading buzz word, it’s much easier to see how things are made and their possible impact on the environment.
I’d love to know your shampoo recipe with bicarb old bean?
Tell me all…
TSx
oh it’s very complex. You wet your hair, chuck a little bicarb in the palm of your hand or onto your hair and just rub it in, concentrating on the scalp, not the roots. Leave it for a few minutes and rinse.
It’s very messy and very weird because there is no lather, but enormously effective. You do need to vinegar rinse though, to balance things up a bit, otherwise it can be a bit harsh.
I know what you mean about things being easier now. even when dd was little, there was NOTHING out there that was decent. Now we’re spoilt for choice
We grow soapwort and use that during the summer. That works really well on dh’s old wirey locks LOL!
I’ve the queen of homemade shampoos. In my time I’ve used green clay, pineapple juice, eggs, even gram flour, al with very interesting and mixed results………..
Very interesting Mrs Green - the whole subject of washing ones hair and body come to that, is interesting and I find the less I do it, the less I need to do it….but that’s a hard one to get across to folks who poke themselves under the shower every day….
Give it a go - your body ‘will’ thank you for it!…..honest!
TSx