The Green Room

Briar writes the David Suzuki Nature Challenge:

A Clorox spokesperson says bleach breaks down to harmless salts and water. Is this true? I thought bleach was bad for fish!

Lindsay replies:

Bleach is bad, you’re right. You’ll see info about the harmful properties of bleach in many pieces of literature, just likely not by the company who makes it. In addition to the green cleaning recipes we provided David Suzuki Nature Challengers with, we’ll soon have a list up of harmful ingredients. Do visit www.queenofgreen.ca for the recipes so you can avoid bleach all together. White vinegar and baking soda work just as well to disinfect everything from your toilet bowl to the cat litter box!

Here’s what my sources say about chlorine bleach:

1. Bleach or Sodium Hyperchlorite is not considered a carcinogen or reproductive toxin. It’s the chlorine used to make the bleach which is toxic to produce and acutely toxic to fish. Source: CancerSmart 3.0, Labour Environmental Alliance Society

2. Chlorine is a gas created through electrolysis of salt water. It produces a toxic chemical and deadly by-products like dioxins. When using chlorine bleach it creates small amounts of organochlorines which are very dangerous. These organochlorines can cause reproductive, endocrine and immune system disorders. When released into the environment chlorine forms compounds that have been inked to cancer. Source: ToxicSmart Alternatives, Georgia Strait Alliance.

Basically, you don’t need bleach. A sprinkle of baking soda in the washing machine or a day in the sunshine will get your whites, white. Plus, chlorine bleach is highly caustic and poisons many children each year, and contributes to poor indoor air quality because it’s a pollutant.

Chuck Penner from Ottawa, ON wrote us:

I am a cleaner for schools, offices, restaurants, etc. and have decided to "go green" a.k.a. use environmentally safe products for my work. There are several books on Amazon on the subject of cleaning using "green" products, but I don’t know which one is right for me. Any recommendations?

Lindsay replied:

Your quest to provide your school with safe, chemical-free cleaners is an excellent initiative. Kids are by far more negatively impacted by the harmful effects of cleaning chemicals than adults are. Too often indoor air quality is 2-5 times worse than it is outdoors because of the toxic cleaning products we use, so you’d be doing everyone in the school a service!

I’d say you almost don’t need a book, mind you I have about 3 green cleaning books myself, which are posted on my website . I also have a series of green cleaning recipes posted that will work for your purposes and will soon be posting a "green cleaning" ingredient list.

I can’t say I’ve found "the" book. I often "Google" a lot of solutions and recipes. Besides, it’s not really sustainable to go out and buy 10 green cleaning books. Do sign up for our program called David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge and view the videos where I show you how to create cheap and effective products. You’ll also find more solutions, such as link I provided for the Toxic Smart Guide. Let us know how you do!