How do you know if your cleaner is “green” or not?

How do you know if your cleaner is “green” or not?

With the burgeoning growth of the green cleaning products, how can you tell if you are buying something that is “green” or “natural”? Unlike the organic product market, there is no standard of what is “natural”? The government does not even require that companies list all the ingredients in their products. While most companies do not list all their ingredients, Clorox with their new Green Works cleaning product line, lists all the ingredients. Many other companies are starting to get on the bandwagon of full disclosure.

So what are you to do if you want to be certain you are using all natural products’? You can create your own cleaning products, often with vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda, depending on what you are cleaning.

The Green Guide put out by the National Geographic is a way to check out cleaning products. You can find out if what you use in your house is toxic or not. They recommend choosing products that contain plant based alcohol and other solvents, such as plant oil disinfectants from eucalyptus, rosemary and sage.

If you are doing spring cleaning at your house or worse yet, at a relative or friends who has lots of unlabeled cans of paint and pesticide, you should call the Santa Cruz Department of Public Works regarding the proper disposal of these potentially toxic chemicals at (831) 477-3907. In cleaning a house up for sale I often come across cans or bottles of unlabeled “stuff” that no one remembers what it is, or where it came from. Often one whiff and you know it’s not bottled water, but something serious. Hazardous waste disposal is very important and is not to be poured down the drain or storm sewers. With the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary at the end of many storm sewers, the effects can be devastating to shore wildlife.

In California we have a number of disclosures to help determine potential health and safety concerns. The Natural Hazards Disclosure ( NHD) on which the seller of real estate of needs to disclose known hazards on or near to the property, as well as the Transfer Disclosure Statement ( TDS and the Lead Based Paint Disclosure (FLD). These documents together can help you determine what there may be adversely affecting your home and health. On the TDS you can find out if there is are known hazardous items in the house or uses on the property that can be potentially hazardous These can be things such as someone was a farmer, which could mean there were chemicals, pesticides or petroleum products used or stored on the property. By knowing what the potential uses of a property were, you can gauge the potential for liability or costs, monetary or potentially health. Santa Cruz real estate disclosures also relate to homes that are within 200 feet or agriculture. There can be fertilizer or sprays applied that can drift and cause health problems. While more people are concerned and are buying organic farm produce for their and the earths health, some of these chemicals can linger in the soil for indeterminable times. Many Santa Cruz County farmers have gone organic as people want natural products.

Use environmentally friendly “green” or natural cleaning products and help yourself and the earth just a little. Most stores now carry green cleaning products if you don’t want to make your own. If you have particular health concerns when you buy a home, we can go over the disclosures and discuss your particular concerns here in Santa Cruz. Ultimately, just as with what you buy as a cleaning product, or a house, you want to know what you are getting. If you want to read some of my other  Santa Cruz real estate blogs, follow the link.

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