The sun is tentatively peaking out from behind the grey clouds, the plants are starting to wake up, and daffodils can be seen in every shop – Spring is finally here! Traditionally, the beginning of Spring is a time for cleaning and decluttering your house, but in doing so you don’t want to clutter and dirty the planet with harsh chemicals and plastic bottles. Here are a few Spring eco friendly cleaning tips for you to bear in mind:
- Refill or DIY
- Switch to a refillable cleaning spray and greatly reduce the number of plastic bottles you get through. Zero-waste shops often have refill stations for cleaning products, simply bring your bottle with you and top it up once you get through it! Alternatively, you could use brands such as Ocean Saver which offer refill pods for you to dissolve in water. When you buy spray from the shops the majority of it is water, something which you have on tap at home. The smaller size and weight of these pods greatly reduces the volume of harmful gases produced from transportation, and all ingredients are plant-based and lab tested – they really do work! You can purchase your Ocean Saver refill from the Green Alternatives website here.
- DIY - Really useful cleaning solutions can be made from ingredients you probably already have in the house. For example…
- For stains on white fabrics and furniture, simply rub toothpaste into it a leave to work for about 15 minutes before washing off.
- Clean windows with warm soapy water before polishing by spraying with white vinegar and buffing with a dry cloth.
- Deodorise and clean stained chopping boards by sprinkling with salt and scrubbing with half a lemon in circular motions. The lemon neutralises odours from garlic and onion and bleaches stains!
- Soak burnt pans in a solution of bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar for a couple of hours, and the stains will wipe right off!
Take a look at our Eco Hints and Tips page for more useful eco friendly cleaning hacks and DIYs!
- Repurpose
- When your towels, sheets or clothes are beyond repair, repurpose them into cleaning cloths or sponges! This is a really simple way of breathing new life into items which would otherwise end up in landfill. Keep a box or bag ready for items you think are past repair, and when you come round to doing your next clean, go through them and cut them into useable sizes and shapes. It is a good idea to have separate cloths for cleaning and polishing. Use more absorbent materials for cleaning as these will hold more of your cleaning liquid. Use softer materials for polishing, these do not have to be very absorbent as they should be used dry anyway. Once used, simply pop them in the washing machine and they will be ready for your next clean!
- Keep your old toothbrushes! They can be really useful for scrubbing hard to reach places such as behind taps and bathplugs, and also for scrubbing mud and grime off trainers and shoes. When you’re ready for a new toothbrush, set your old one aside in a box along with the rest of your cleaning essentials – you never know what you might need it for!
- Declutter and donate
- When decluttering your house, sort through items which could be repurposed. Could you use that old box for keeping screws and screwdrivers in? Could that plastic bottle be used for keeping your cleaning sprays in? Or could that old pillow case be your new duster?
- For items you do not wish to keep, research charity shops, homeless shelters or animal shelters in your area which you can donate to. You could even put them up as a listing on websites such as Facebook Marketplace or Freecycle for someone in your area.
For eco friendly switches you can make to your eco friendly cleaning collection, check out the Green Alternatives website here where you can find eco alternatives to items such as compostable kitchen sponges, coconut fibre scourers, bamboo washing up brushes and so much more!