Plastic-Free Stain Remover & other Laundry ideas

Lunch at Oliveto with my friend Simone last Saturday was great fun. Too much fun. I laughed so hard, I spilled coffee all over the table and all over my sleeve. Normally, I'd just take it home and "Shout it Out." But not this time. This past week, I ran out of the plastic bottle of Shout I'd been using for the last two years and was determined to find a plastic-free alternative.

But the plastic bottle was not my only concern. Do you know what chemicals are in Shout? Terrible nasty ones or perfectly benign? Unless you work for S.C. Johnson, you're as clueless as I am because the company doesn't reveal it's ingredients. Here's the FAQ from the Shout web site:

Q. What are the ingredients in Shout®?
A. We can't give away our "trade secrets," but we can say that Shout® Laundry Stain Removers are detergent based with powerful cleaning agents. Shout® does not contain any phosphates or bleach.

Can't? Or won't? This is the problem with so many chemicals that we use on a daily basis. Not only are they not tested for safety before entering the market, but manufacturers don't even have to tell us what they are in the first place! No thanks.

Here are the plastic-free, less toxic laundry products I'm currently using:


1) Ecover laundry powder comes in a recycled cardboard box and contains a recycled cardboard scoop, unlike most powder detergents that come with a plastic scoop. And the company lists its ingredients on the box as well as the web site: Sodium carbonate, Zeolite, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters Ethoxylates, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Sulfate, Sodium Carbonate Peroxide, Sodium Poly Asparaginate, Sodium Disilicate, Sodium Citrate, Cellulose Gum, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Subtilisin. Now, I'm not a chemist and this does seem like a lot of ingredients, regardless of the fact that they are plant based and not tested on animals. So we have been alternating with the next item.

2) LaundryTree soap nuts until recently came packaged in a plastic bag. No more. Read the awesome story about how Lisa at LaundryTree made the switch to plastic-free packaging. Soapnuts contain one natural ingredient: soapnuts. The only reason we don't use them exclusively is that we stocked up on Ecover a while back and are still using it up. Also, I think the Ecover does a better job on seriously dirty gym clothes.

3) Borax turns out to be a great stain remover! I like that it comes in a cardboard box and also that it also contains only one ingredient: borax. Of course, it's not without its environmental impact, as it's a mineral that has to be mined from the earth. That's why we use it sparingly only for tough stains.

To clean my jacket sleeve, I used the instructions from The Naturally Clean Home, a little book I picked up a while back from our local bookstore. While I do a lot of research on the Internet, sometimes it's nice to have a book handy to grab for solutions, and this is a good one. Here's what the author says to do for coffee and tea stains: Immediately flush with cool water. Then soak in a borax and water solution before laundering.

Not having soaked my jacket immediately, I thought maybe something a little more intense was in order. So I actually made a paste of borax and water (stored now in a glass jar for future stain-removal needs) and and rubbed it into the stains with an old toothbrush. Several hours later, I rinsed off the borax, and the stains were gone!

Of course, there are other ways to get rid of stains, depending on what kind they are. Carbonated water (free of plastic bottle waste with my Soda Club soda maker) is another alternative. And The Naturally Clean Home lists more.

But lest you think our laundry room is completely plastic-free, think again. We still have a few more plastic bottles, acquired before I gave up buying new plastic, that we are very, very slowly working our way through:


WIN detergent for athletic wear, Seventh Generation oxygen bleach, and a can of spray starch with a plastic cap. At some point, these too will end up in the plastic tally, unless I finally just decide to give them away on Freecycle. (I'm not even sure if we use the spray starch. Maybe Michael uses it on his collars. Hmmm...)

What are your favorite non-toxic and plastic-free ways to clean clothes?
 

Big Plastic-Free SoapNuts Giveaway from LaundryTree

Put on your fuzzy slippers. Grab a mug of cocoa. Sit back, and let me tell you a little story about why it's worth it for us to ask for what we want. There's free stuff at the end, so hang in with me.

Have you ever done your laundry with soapnuts or been curious to find out how they work? Soapnuts grow on a tree called Sapindus mukorossi (Chinese Soapberry) and contain saponin, a natural surfactant which foams just like soap. I've wanted to try soapnuts since I first spotted them in a natural grocery store a couple of years ago but have always been deterred by the plastic in the packaging. Although they are imported, the idea of using a laundry soap that contains only one, minimally-processed natural ingredient (the soapnuts are harvested, de-seeded, and sun-dried) appealed to me.

So last month, when the bloggers at Tiny Choices announced a LaundryTree soapnuts giveaway, I was pretty excited. Excited, that is, until I clicked on the site and saw the soapnuts packaging. Looked like plastic bags to me.


Not one to give up so easily, I left a comment asking what the packaging was made from. I wanted to be sure. Jenn at Tiny Choices forwarded my comment to Lisa at LaundryTree, who responded to me right away and asked for helping de-plasticking her packaging.

Less than one month later, LaundryTree has already switched to recycled paper bags! Check out the sample I received in the mail:


The natural kraft paper bags contain 40% recycled content and are lined with a minimal amount of PLA (to keep the soapnuts fresh) which makes the bags fully compostable or recyclable. But don't take my word for it. Read the article Lisa wrote tonight about the new packaging and the story behind it.

I am so impressed with a business owner that listens to her customers and responds so quickly. Isn't this the kind of business we'd all like to support?

Of course, the packaging would be irrelevant if the soapnuts themselves didn't work. So before writing this post, I of course tried them out. And actually, I could just send you over to the Tiny Choices review of soapnuts because their review is very similar to what I'm about to write here. They even linked to the same Wikipedia page. But to spare you the extra clicks, I'll go ahead and write my own glowing review.

Soapnuts only release their saponin in warm or hot water. I wash in cold to save energy. But never fear, there is an easy solution. Mix up a batch of Soapnuts Soak by bringing a pot of water to a boil, removing it from the heat, tossing in 6-8 soapnuts, and letting them sit covered over night. In the morning, strain into a couple of glass jars. The used soapnuts can go in the compost. Use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per laundry load.

By the way, I've noticed that another major distributor of soapnuts is now selling a liquid version in plastic bottles. Look how easy it is to make without the plastic. Easy as boiling water. Of course, if you're like me and forget about pots on the stove, this procedure might not be as easy as it is for most. Still, I can deal. Because one batch of Soapnut Soak will do at least 8 loads of laundry. And check out the web site for all the other uses for Soapnuts Soak.

Now, I'll be honest. Soapnuts smell pretty darned funky. In fact, when I poured some out on the carpet this morning to take a picture, Soots and Arya went just a little nutty sniffing them. So, as you can imagine, I was skeptical about how my laundry would smell. LaundryTree promises that our clothes will not end up smelling like the soapnuts.

So, after adding the Soapnut Soak to my cold water load of light colors, and watching in amazement at the amount of foamy bubbles produced, I felt compelled to sniff every item as it came out of the washing machine. And you know what? They just smelled clean. Fresh. That's the only way I can describe the scent. It was nothing like the smell of the soapnuts.

Some people prefer to add scent to their laundry, and to that end, LaundryTree sells a variety of essential oils. For me, the oils were completely unnecessary. I like my clean to smell like clean.

So, would you like to try them? LaundryTree has kindly offered to provide sample bags of soapnuts (the size of the small cloth pouch in the photo) to 10 lucky winners. Each winner will receive two bags: one to keep and one to share with a friend. Here are my contest rules, which I am making up on the spot:

NOTE: The soapnuts contest is over and winners have been announced here.

1) Leave a comment below. Since I wrote a letter to Planet Earth yesterday, and since Planet Earth was kind enough to respond, please add your two cents. What would you say to Planet Earth if you had the chance? Make it as long or short as you want. Planet Earth has all the time in the world.

2) Please leave a way for me to contact you. If you have a blog, you can leave the URL of your blog. If not, you can email me directly with your email address at beth[at]fakeplastic[dot]com. But you must leave a comment here first!

Why am I requiring contact info this time? Because I don't want to have to chase after your butts if you win and then don't check back and then I have to choose someone else. Feh. Let's just get it right the first time!

Want your soapnuts right away? Lisa is offering Fake Plastic Fish readers a 15% discount through April 20. Use the discount code FAKEPLASTICFISH when you place your order. Lisa is still using up her supply of plastic bags, but if you use that code, you'll not only receive a discount, but you can be assured that your soapnuts will be packaged in paper.

Oh, and one more thing. Soapnuts come in various sized bags, so order the largest size you'll use to avoid unnecessary waste. Paper and PLA, as you know, have their eco consequences too.
 

Clothesnik saves plastic, if only dry cleaners would use it!

Way back in October, my friend Doug from BuyGreen.com, one of the advertisers on this blog, sent me a Clothesnik canvas garment bag to try out. I finally had a chance to use it last week. We haven't taken clothes to the cleaners since July of last year! Unfortunately, it took a while to find a green cleaner that would actually use the bag. More on that later. First, I want to tell you about the Clothesnik.

The Clothesnik is a 100% cotton garment bag and laundry bag in one. Toss dirty clothes into it and tie up the bag using the strings at the bottom. Or use it clean as a garment bag to replace the disposable plastic bags the cleaners give out. If you don't want to pay for the laundry service to clean the Clothesnik bag, wash it at home and return with it to pick up the clean clothes. Or don't use it as a laundry bag. There are just so many options.

Our problem was finding a cleaner to use it correctly in the first place. A while back I wrote about green cleaner Blue Sky, which uses CO2 to clean clothes, one of the most environmentally-friendly methods. They also pick up and drop off clothes at your home or office. I thought surely they'd be excited about the Clothesnik.

I thought wrong.

Blue Sky Cleaners would have nothing to do with it. When I explained that its purpose is to save plastic bag waste, which is another environmental problem, the response was that their system was fixed and would not allow for different treatment for individual customers. I did not let that go. I pressed my argument, even letting them know that I would have to tell my readers on Fake Plastic Fish about this policy. The woman's response was, "Well, you have to do what you have to do." So okay, I just did what I just did.

Looking for another cleaner that does not use toxic chemicals, we came across the French Cleaners up the street from us on Claremont Avenue.


The employee who answered the phone told me that the company uses only water, no chemicals. Great! We took our clothes and our Clothesnik there, hoping for the best. In the shop window, we found the following sign:


Even better! The woman who took our clothes was very excited by the Clothesnik and thought it was a great idea. And we were excited about the French Cleaners. Unfortunately, just before I left the shop, I asked, "You'll use only water, right? Even on these wool pants?" She responded, "Oh, no water on these. We send them out. But no chemicals. No perc, no chemicals."

My heart sank a little bit. Because as I discussed in my previous post, there are several different options which tout themselves as green and are anything but. Since the employee could not tell me exactly which method was being used, I couldn't know for sure if it would be environmentally-friendly or not. We left the clothes anyway and went home.

Returning a few days later to pick up our clean clothes, I received them on hangers, plastic-free, but also Clothesnik-free. "Where's the canvas bag I left to put the clothes in?" "Oh, right!" the employee responded. "I forgot it!" She searched the shelves and found our Clothesnik neatly folded. No big deal. We put the clothes in it for the trip home. But I could see it might take some effort to help clothes cleaners learn to use the Clothesnik.

One last time, I tried to engage the woman about the cleaning method used. She didn't have more information and wouldn't give me any contact information for the owner either. After looking over the comments left on my previous post, I am seriously motivated to try some of the home cleaning methods suggested. Lauri posted a long explanation of how she cleans wool. I may have to try it, of course looking for a non-toxic soap that doesn't come in a plastic bottle!
 

House Cleaning, Carpet Cleaning, & Kid-Safe Chemicals

HOUSE CLEANING

I don't think our toilet was this clean when we first moved in to our apartment. I personally have scrubbed and scrubbed with a brush and been unable to remove the mineral stains. Not that I'm a great housekeeper. I'm not. In fact, I suck. And Michael does his best, but you know, we just have other priorities. So Monday, to celebrate President's Day, we had our place cleaned from top to bottom by the eco-friendly members of Natural Home Cleaning Professionals.

I say "members" because Natural Home Cleaning is a worker-owned cooperative whose goal is to support families to be economically self-sufficient. The company serves the San Francisco East Bay from Southern Richmond to Fremont. Workers are trained in natural cleaning techniques, encouraged to start with the least toxic products (like vinegar and water) and slowly work up to stronger products as needed. The strongest cleaner used is Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds. The photo on this page shows some of the other products used.

One of the company's goals is to prove to clients that natural cleaners can work every bit as well, if not better, than their harsh synthetic counterparts. And man, did they ever prove it to me! Look how the kitchen sparkles!






And the best part is that afterwards, the apartment didn't smell like chemicals. It just smelled clean.

I spoke with the scheduler about methods and products and finally... plastic. I'm not sure NHC goes out of its way to avoid plastic containers and products like I do. So I focused on sponges. The rep wasn't sure exactly what their sponges and scrubbers are made from, so I told her about Skoy cloths and expressed my hope that NHC will look into biodegradable options for wipes and scrubbers.

Natural Home Cleaners is supported by an organization called WAGES (Women's Action to Gain Economic Security), which is dedicated to empowering low-income women through cooperative businesses. The WAGES web site lists several other sister co-operatives serving different regions of the Bay Area, including San Francisco, the Peninsula, and South Bay.

For those of you who live outside the Bay Area, The Ecology Center has a great list of green home and carpet cleaning services, as does Co-op America's Green Pages.

So, how did NHC get my toilet so clean? A natural pumice stone!

CARPET CLEANING


Soots is confused. And not just because his mouth and nose disappear every time he looks at us straight on. He's concerned that the dirt and fleas have disappeared from the carpet and that the place smells like oranges.

The day following our house cleaning, we had our carpets professionally cleaned. I chose a company called Chem-Dry which, despite its name, uses very few chemicals. Chem-Dry's process relies on the power of carbonated water (about 1/5th to 1/10th as much water as traditional steam cleaners, they claim), heat, orange oil, and a heavy duty machine that scrubs the carpet into submission. OMG, as the texters say. You should have seen the hunks of black cat hair that thing sucked out. And we do, in fact, vacuum! (Well, Michael does.)

Chem-Dry offers stain protection treatment as well as carpet sanitizer, both of which I refused. I'm happy with carbonated water. I almost wish I could have skipped the orange pre-treatment, but it was on before I knew it. For protecting the legs of furniture, Chem-Dry normally offers Styrofoam blocks. This time, the technician had run out of Styrofoam, which I would have refused anyway. We substituted aluminum foil, which worked just fine.


Both the Ecology Center directory and Green Pages list eco-friendly carpet cleaners. Chem-dry, which has recently been purchased by Home Depot, is not one of them. But since California is in the middle of a major drought right now, I feel pretty good about choosing a company that uses much less water than most.

KID-SAFE CHEMICALS ACT

After my experiences with green cleaning this week, it was appropriate that I listened in on the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act conference call this morning. Presented by the Environmental Working Group, the call highlighted all the ways that our current Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), passed in 1976, has failed to protect us and why we need stronger legislation to require manufacturers of chemicals to prove that they are safe.

When TSCA was passed, 62,000 industrial chemicals were grandfathered in, meaning they were never required to be tested for safety. Since then, another 20,000-30,000 chemicals have gone on the market. In 30 years, only 5 have been banned. The law is so weak, that the EPA has not even been able to ban asbestos.

The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act would require manufacturers to pay for safety assessments of chemicals before they go on the market, and they must prove reasonable certainty that chemicals will not cause harm from aggregate exposure, meaning that if a chemical is found in formula cans and baby bottles and sippy cups (I'm thinking of BPA here), manufacturers must consider its cumulative effect from all sources, not just individual products.

This Act is not yet law. In fact, it hasn't even been introduced yet in the legislature. Environmental Working Group is asking for your help to show support for the measure. What you can do:

1) Read all about the Act on EWG's web site.
2) Add your name to the declaration showing support for the Act.
3) Sign up for email updates to learn the status of the act and additional measures you can take in the coming months.

I'm hoping a law like this will help to reduce the harm we are seeing from many plastics, including BPA and phthalates, as well as those in fragrances, dyes, and preservatives that manufacturers are not even required to list on labels at this point. If the chemicals are found to be unsafe and removed from the market, there will be nothing to reveal on labels in the first place.

This post will be included in the Green Mom's Carnival, hosted at Tiny Choices on March 10. Please stop over there and read more ideas for green cleaning.
 

Skoy Happy Holidays Give-Away

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate this holiday, and happy December 25th to those who don't. In keeping with the spirit of giving, I asked Skoy if they would send me some cloths to give away to Fake Plastic Fish readers, and they were nice enough to send me five packages.

I reviewed Skoy cloths back in October. Please check out that post for the details. I loved them then, and I love them even more now. The Skoy cloth I started using months ago is still in great shape. It rinses out easily, dries fast, and never smells bad. And of course, it will be 100% compostable at the end of its life (if that day ever comes.)

Also, as I mentioned in my previous post, the packaging is plastic-free. And this current batch has even less packaging. See the photo. Each pack of four cloths is tied together with raffia and includes a small cardboard instruction card.

Why am I pushing these cloths? Because it's rare that I find a product I like so much and that can replace so many other less environmentally-sound options: synthetic sponges, synthetic micro-fiber cloths, paper towels, etc. I like them so much, in fact, that I bought 10 packs to give as gifts to each of my co-workers.

So, if you'd like a free 4-pack of Skoy cloths to try out, please leave a comment here describing one plastic-free change you plan to make in the coming year. I'll choose the winners at random some time before January 1.
 

Skoy cloths: they're plastic-free and save many, many paper towels.

I gave up paper towels when I first went plastic-free since all brands come wrapped in plastic. Later, I realized how wasteful the whole idea of paper towels is in the first place. So I switched to natural cellulose sponges and cut-up rags. (Microfiber cloths are a no-no for the plastic-free crowd because they're made from... uh... plastic.)

The thing is, sponges get gross and don't dry out quickly, so they tend to smell bad after a while. And the rags I was using weren't particularly absorbent. Then, a few weeks ago, I read about Skoy cloths on the Crunchy Domestic Goddess blog, and thought they sounded like a great idea.

Skoy cloths are 100% biodegradable, as they're made from cotton and cellulose. They're also chlorine-free and contain water-based colors and inks. While highly absorbent like sponges, they are thin and dry out fast. The company claims that one Skoy cloth can replace 15 rolls of paper towels and can last for over a year. I guess it depends on how often you use paper towels. I don't think I've gone through that many in my lifetime. But then, I wasn't counting.

Anyway, I emailed the company and asked for a sample. But not, of course, before asking about the packaging. Guess what! Zero plastic. They come packaged just as you see in the picture, with a simple cardboard strip holding the 4-pack together. And in fact, Michelle Lundqvist, who sent the cloths to me, said, "We really tried hard to find a way to package without plastic."

So far, Michael and I are really pleased with the cloths. (Well, I should say Michael is, since he does most of the actual cleaning. What a guy!) The fact that they last such a long time (washable in dishwasher or washing machine and microwavable when wet) and can be composted at the end of their lives makes them nearly perfect.

Nearly? Well, the web site says they're made from "natural cotton" rather than organic cotton. Perhaps we could ask Skoy to create an organic version. A 4-pack of regular Skoy cloths costs $5.99. Would you pay more for organic?

Right now, Skoy cloths are mainly sold online and in a few retail stores. I haven't found them anywhere in my area yet. But if they last for as long as they claim, I won't need to buy any more for quite a while.

Have you tried Skoy cloths? And if so, what do you think?

10/27/08 Update: One FPF reader mentioned Twist Cloths, which are sold at Whole Foods. First of all, Twist cloths are packaged in plastic, while Skoy cloths are not. To find out other differences, I emailed Skoy, and this is Michelle's reponse:

Beth, We welcome you to try the difference between Twist and Skoy. We think Skoy will be the winner. It is a superior product and below defines that.

The differences between Skoy and Twist:

1. SKOY is made of cotton and cellulose and Twist is cellulose only (cotton net). This gives SKOY a rag-like feel rather than sponge-like.
2. Twist’s products are made in China and SKOY in Germany. Our factory is leaps and bounds above on environmental awareness.
3. Twist’s sponges are packed wet - feel free to investigate wetting/antibacterial agents in sponges and you will see the harmful effects to the environment. SKOY uses no antibacterial agent or wetting agent.
4. SKOY is washer and dryer safe and Twist instructs not to put in dryer.
5. SKOY has fun designs, Twist does not
6 SKOY has a full range of colors making SKOY more modern and fashionable.
8. SKOY uses no plastic in packaging, only recyclable paper.

Personally, I don't care about colors and designs, but some of the other differences are very interesting to me!
 

Year 2, Week 10 Results: 19.6 oz of plastic waste!

What does it mean when your cat's poop suddenly turns red? Could be some terrible disease. Or could just mean your cat's been eating her red blanket and explains why she's not hungry anymore. I've been so worried about poor little albatross chicks consuming pieces of plastic out in the North Pacific Gyre, while here at home under my own nose my kitty's been chowing down on polar fleece. Look at all the holes!

This is the blanket the kittens came with. I put it in Arya's cage while she was healing, thinking it would be familiar and comforting. And I guess it was. Comfort food. (Plastic blanket, and god knows what kind of dye it's got in it.)

Little Hobble had her sutures out on Friday and is getting back to her normal spirited self, which is a little worrisome because her bones will take a while to completely heal. So we still have to keep her in the cage -- sans fake plastic blanket!

So, here's this week's tally. Plastic items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

• 1 85 oz bottle Sun Light gel dishwasher detergent and cap. The main reason this stuff has lasted so long is that we bought it when we first moved into this apartment three years ago and then rarely used the dishwasher. Only recently did I figure out that washing one load of dishes per week in the dishwasher is actually more efficient for us than handwashing. So, we've finally used up this bottle and have now switched to powdered detergent in a cardboard box.
  
  At the moment, we are trying Ecover Automatic Dishwasher Powder because it's non-toxic and also because it seems to have the most environmentally-friendly packaging. The box is made from recycled cardboard AND the spout is also cardboard rather than metal, like those of Seventh Generation and Whole Foods brands. Fewer types of materials means better recycling, right? The Ecover web site mentions a polypropylene cover, but I'm wondering if that is referring to some other product because our box of detergent has no plastic cover.
  
  Ecover has a statement about trace amounts of dioxane found in its products, but it seems to only apply to the liquid dish soap, not the powder. It remains to be seen how effective this stuff is. Do you guys use dishwasher detergent and if so, what works best for you? Oh, and does anyone have tips for the best way to load the dishwasher? Neither Michael nor I grew up with one, so we're doing the best we can.
  
  And yes, I'm sure we could be super efficient at handwashing and skip the machine. But the fact remains that we are not. Let's just leave it at that. :-)

And the new plastic waste:

• 1 chewed up red polar fleece blanket. Already fully described above.


• 1 plastic seal from around the neck of a jar of Fudge Is My Life fudge sauce. It's almost gone. I heard back from one person who won a jar a few weeks ago and mailed it off on Friday. Haven't heard back from the other two: Small Change and Bobbi. If you want your fudge, email me at beth [at] fakeplasticfish [dot] come before it's gone!

Only 4 items this week. Not bad!

Tomorrow, I'll report all about the ridiculous search for plastic-free water at the the Outside Lands Music Festival on Friday, and the Radiohead show that pummeled me with its exquisite noise and left me breathless with hope for humanity. (What a world where guys can make sounds that take over my whole body and soul and cause me to weep with amazement no matter how many times I hear them.)
 

Blue Sky Cleaners: Non-toxic and Plastic-free?

Nowadays, I stick to buying clothes that can be washed at home rather than dry cleaned. Dry cleaning is expensive and environmentally harmful. But I do still have several items of clothing, as well as some wool blankets, that cannot be machine laundered at home, and for those I need a good outside cleaner.

In the past, I have taken clothes to the dry cleaner down the street, not thinking about much more than the fact that I didn't want any plastic bag covering my clothes. The cleaner would comply with my request, and I'd do an extra bit by returning my used hangers to them. This takes care of the waste problem, but not the more serious problem of the toxic chemicals used in the cleaning process itself.

Thanks to Big Green Purse, I've learned a lot about dry cleaning recently. Which is great because I was almost taken in by the "green cleaner" down the street. Rockridge Royal Cleaners on College Ave has posters in its windows touting the DF-2000 "green" alternative to perchloroethylene ("perc").

Granted perc is nasty stuff which, according to Big Green Purse, has been linked to reproductive problems, disorders of the central nervous system, and has been listed by the EPA as a probably human carcinogen. In fact, the state of California is phasing it out.

But DF-2000 is not the answer. Manufactured by ExxonMobil, it is a petroleum product that "may present a fire hazard and emit volatile organic chemicals that contribute to smog." And another supposedly green method, GreenEarth (siloxane D5) may not be the answer either. The EPA is assessing a possible link to cancer.

The only two processes considered environmentally preferable by the EPA are 1) Wet cleaning, which uses water and biodegradable detergents, and 2) Liquid CO2 cleaning. The problem is that businesses using these methods are currently hard to find. In my neighborhood, there are none at all. But checking out the East Bay Eco Metro Guide, I did find a company, Blue Sky Cleaners, which uses both non-toxic methods and which picks up and drops off clothing at your doorstep. Certainly, walking my clothes down the street would be environmentally preferable than having a van pick up and drop them off. But until more companies switch to less toxic methods, this is what we'll have to do.

So, we've got the toxic chemicals out of the way, but what about the plastic? Blue Sky leaves its customers a reusable bag for their dirty clothes. But the clean clothes are delivered in plastic bags. When signing up for the service, I did request no plastic, but I guess the message wasn't relayed.

So I called Blue Sky and discussed the issue. I wondered why they couldn't skip the hangers and simply fold my clothes and return them to me in the blue bag. But they didn't want to do that since the blue bags have contained soiled clothing. I've suggest they have "clean" reusable bags as well as "dirty" reusable bags. In the meantime, they have promised to deliver my clothes folded in paper bags that I can return to the company for reuse, with no plastic.

I plan to hold onto these particular plastic bags and send them back to the company the next time, which will actually be a very long time from now, we so rarely dry clean.

Have you found non-toxic dry cleaning in your area? Or have you given up all clothes requiring dry cleaning in the first place? I can't bring myself to get rid of perfectly good clothes that I love and that I already own just because of the cleaning method. What do you think?
 

Dear Citra Solv...

June 13, 2008

Citra Solv, LLC
PO Box 2597
Danbury, CT 06813-2597

Dear Steve & Melissa,

I purchased a box of CitraSuds natural laundry detergent today at the Ecology Center in Berkeley, CA. I am always on the lookout for environmentally safe products and was happy to learn that your laundry powder is biodegradable and contains no chlorine bleach or synthetic perfumes or dyes. I was also happy to read on the box that the package is made from 100% recycled paper.

However, after opening the box, I was disappointed to find a plastic measuring scoop. While I realize the scoop may be made out of recycled plastic, the fact is that it is not biodegradable and cannot be further recycled – not where I live anyway. Therefore, I am returning the scoop to you in the hopes that you can find a use for it. I don’t need it, and most of the people I know do not need a brand new scoop each time we buy a box of detergent.

There is another brand of laundry soap, Ecover, which includes a biodegradable cardboard scoop made out of recycled paper. This seems to be a better alternative to me, since the scoop can be recycled or composted at the end of its life. My usual store was sold out of Ecover this week, which is why I tried the CitraSuds instead. But I don’t think I will purchase another box of CitraSuds as long as I know there will be a plastic scoop inside.

I appreciate all that you are doing for the environment and hope that you will choose to go even further by either eliminating the scoop entirely or opting for a biodegradable recycled paper scoop, like Ecover has.

Sincerely,


Beth Terry

Giving up the struggle: stories of ants and cats and hair products gone awry

I was planning to write about DIY hair care products this week. But so far, my experiments have been less than successful. Take, for example, the sugar water hairspray, exhibit left. Here's the recipe:

Dissolve 1 tablespoon sugar in a cup of water. Boil 3 minutes. Be sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Add 1 tablespoon vodka and 2-3 drops essential oil of your choice for scent. Pour into a spray bottle.

The instructions should also have said, "Keep out of the reach of ants!" But then, I guess the writer figured most sane people are aware that sugar attracts ants. Just to clarify, this hairspray ant invasion happened a month BEFORE last week's sugar incident. You'd think I would have learned. And you would be wrong.

So, about the hairspray. It didn't work anyway. Still looking for a plastic-free alternative. But that's not what I want to talk about in this post.

What I want to talk about is letting go of the struggle against reality, accepting things as they truly are, and finding ways to work with the world rather than against it. As I mentioned in my post about the ant invasion, constantly spraying them with vinegar was not working. I was in a never-ending battle with these creatures that was overwhelming and disheartening.

First of all, killing living beings every day is not fun. I'll admit there's a certain satisfaction in wiping them up and washing them down the drain. But it comes from a very dark place, the same as pouring salt on slugs and watching them sizzle or teasing tigers at the zoo. It doesn't make you a nice person. And an FPF reader, who also is one of Michael's co-workers and a Buddhist, was kind of horrified at the idea of mixing borax with sugar. Her reaction made me seriously reconsider anything lethal.

Second, the ants weren't actually invading me. They were trying to escape the rain. We know this because during normal dry weather, the ants disappear from my kitchen and stick to farming the scale on my potted citrus trees. (Ew!)

Third, the ants were in my cupboard and last month all over my hairspray because that's where the sugar was. Perhaps if the sugar were somewhere else...

So I did try the measure that I mentioned in my post: putting a cup of sugar in the cabinet under the sink to attract them away from my countertops and food cupboards. And guess what. It's working! The ants are all over the sugar under the sink (where I can't see them and they can't hurt anything) and almost completely gone from everywhere else. I guess once the rains have stopped for good, I'll start moving the sugar towards the back door and try to lead them back outside. Or maybe they'll just go on their own. We'll see.

Humans have different ways of describing the experience of living with reality rather than the fantasy of life as you wish it were. Going with the flow. Following the tao. Byron Katie, author of one of my favorite books, calls it Loving What Is.

"Loving what is" doesn't mean that when we see injustice or harm occurring in the world we sit passively by and do nothing. What it does mean is that we can work with things as they actually are rather than how we think they ought to be. Instead of thinking, "These ants should not be on my countertop!" I can say, "These ants should be on my countertop because that is what ants do when it rains outside and they have no other source of food. So I'll put some food for them down below and leave my countertops free for my own food." Or some other solution that recognizes the nature of ants rather than the idea of how we wish ants behaved.

Okay, so I learned this lesson a second time this week with my kitties. They are not allowed into our bedroom at night because they chase and bite and wrestle on top of our heads. (Why it is necessary for the wrestling to happen on our heads, we do not know.) So every morning, there are kitties outside the bedroom door scratching and mewing and oh so excited for us to come out and be with them, or at least give them food. And every morning, when I open the door, these kitties rush past me into the room and under the bed, where I spend many minutes trying to coax them out.

Why are they coming into the bedroom? Don't they know I'm leaving the bedroom? Don't they know the food is in the kitchen? Are they stupid? These are the kinds of grumblings that were running through me each morning. Until finally, I realized that I was expecting my kittens to think like people instead of kittens. So instead of trying to coax them out of the bedroom, I simply left them in there, closed the door, and walked away. It only took about 5 seconds before they were scratching on the door to be let out. And zero frustration for me.

So what does this have to do with plastic and environmental issues? Here's the thing. Plastic exists. People use it. People throw it away. It harms animals. It's also extremely convenient and useful. It is reality and no amount of wishful thinking will change that. If we're going to create a world without harm, we somehow have to work with reality the way it is and go from there, rather than grumbling and mumbling and getting angry with people who don't agree with us.

What does that mean? I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out. I do suspect that fighting doesn't work and that there's no winning "the war against plastic" any more than "the war against drugs" or "the war against terrorism." There's only seeing the world as it actually is, working with reality, and creating change from the inside out, starting with ourselves.

It's as my meditation teacher said at the last retreat pointing to his noggin, "The real garbage is in here." Perhaps once we realize that, the rest will come easily.
 

Uh oh! Rethinking Jar Lids

After all my hoopla about using hydrogen peroxide to clean the inside of tomato sauce jar lids, I'm now having second thoughts. Sorry to get prematurely excited.

A few days ago, after "bleaching" the tomato stains out of a couple of lids with hydrogen peroxide, I noticed that the smell was not completely gone. So I added another round of hydrogen peroxide and left them in the sun some more. Well, this time, not only did the tomato break down, but so did the coating on the inside of the lid! And that got me thinking...

Could the coating on the inside of prepared foods jar lids be the same stuff (polycarbonate) that lines the insides of aluminum cans these days? And if so, does using hydrogen peroxide on it cause it to leach Bisphenol-A?

I've been trying to find information on the web about what that coating is, but I'm having a hard time finding a definitive answer. So I sent e-mails to several companies (Classico, Newman's Own, Francesco Rinaldi) asking for information about the inside coating. I also e-mailed Jarden, the company that makes Ball canning jars and lids, to find out what their lids are made of.

Scott at Least Footprint wrote that he reuses spaghetti sauce jars and buys new lids for them. Maybe this is the better option, if the original lids are lined with something we don't want to reuse.

Other options I have found online are to line the inside of the lid with beeswax or to put a layer of parchment paper between the lid and the jar.

I will continue to update as I get further information. If anyone else has information about the coating inside the lids of glass jars, please share with the class. We are all here to learn.
 

Finally! How to clean pasta sauce jar lids Plus a handy cleaning tool I found

8/28/07 Update: It turns out that cleaning pasta sauce jar lids with hydrogen peroxide is not such a good idea. H202 eats through the coating inside the jar lid. Read more here.

Pasta sauce jars would be a great replacement for plastic food storage containers, if it weren't for the tomato stain and smell that penetrates the rubbery inside of the lid and causes any food in the jar to take on the taste and smell of the sauce. (Tomato-flavored soy milk, anyone?) For weeks, I tried everything I could think of to clean them out (short of chlorine bleach, which we don't buy) to no avail. Things I tried: white vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, salt, vinegar and baking soda, lemon juice and baking soda, dish soap, scrubbing really hard. I even found a web page dedicated to this very topic, but none of the non-bleach suggestions worked for me.

And then I remembered reading somewhere a few weeks ago about leaving them out in the sun to get the smell out. So I tried it, and that didn't work either. But it did bring to mind a memory of me as a teenager sitting in the sun, trying to bleach my hair with hydrogen peroxide. So I poured a little peroxide into the lid, left it in the sun for a day, and voilà! Look how white it is! And no trace of tomato odor! I wonder how much peroxide it would have taken to turn my teenage hair that white.

Hydrogen peroxide is much more environmentally friendly than chlorine bleach. According to Greenlivingtips.com, "Most of the debate about chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite) stems from its ability to form more toxic byproducts such as dioxin, furans and other organochlorines when reacting with other elements. Hydrogen peroxide on the other hand, is simply water with an extra oxygen molecule (H2O2) and breaks down into oxygen and water.... Many industrial bleaching operations, such as those used in the production of paper, are increasingly moving towards the use of hydrogen peroxide for a greener bleaching process."

And yes, hydrogen peroxide does come in plastic containers. But I already have two bottles of it that I bought long before I was avoiding plastic, and it doesn't take much to clean a jar lid.

Now, here's my second cleaning tip for the day: Reusing all these narrow-necked glass jars and bottles, as well as my Klean Kanteen, requires a brush to clean them. If you already have a bottle brush, skip the following tip because why buy something new if you don't need to? Seriously, in my book, a plastic brush you already own is better than a new natural brush. But since I had been living the throw-away lifestyle, I didn't own a bottle brush because I didn't save any bottles or jars in the first place.

This is a natural coir (coconut husk) brush from Down To Earth Distributors. I bought mine at Rainbow Grocery, where the only packaging was a small tag attached to the handle. Plastic-free, vegan, and it works well. If you can't find anything similar in a local store, you can purchase this online at GreenFeet.

And please let me know if you have any environmentally-friendly cleaning tips to share. What works the best for you? I'd rather not experiment if I don't have to!
 

Store Report: Elephant Pharmacy

Just like Whole Foods, this natural pharmacy contains very few items that are not packaged in plastic. Recycled toilet paper in plastic. Recycled napkins in plastic. Natural cellulose sponges in plastic. Natural cleaning products in plastic. Natural cosmetics, drugs, foods, bric-a-brac in plastic. Here are the few plastic-free items that I found and bought:

2 boxes of BioBags, 3 gallon size. BioBags are made from corn and are 100% biodegradable and compostable. We are going to use them in our kitchen garbage can instead of the plastic grocery bags that we have been using. Hopefully, we won't be putting much into them anyway. We put all of our food waste into the green compost bin; we put all of our paper, cans, and curbside-recyclable plastic into the gray recycling bin; and since the beginning of this plastic project, I have been saving all the non-recyclable plastic "for later."

Ever since I heard about Casabella natural cellulose scrubbers, I've been searching for them in area stores. I finally found them at Elephant Pharmacy... in a 3-pack packaged in plastic! Feh! I stood in front of the scrubber display and pondered this dilemma for a full 5 minutes before I noticed the cute Loofah-Art scrubbers above them. (Short people like me often miss things that are over our heads.) Loofah-Art scrubbers are made from organically-grown loofah, and the only bit of plastic in the packaging is the tiny thingy that connects the loofah to the cardboard backing card. (What are those tiny thingies called?) I thought I could deal with a tiny thingy of plastic. So this scrubber is what we will use to clean our dishes from now on.

And finally, I spent way too much ($19.99) for this Bag-E-Wash plastic bag dryer. You put it on the counter or hang it under the cabinet and leave your washed plastic bags on it to dry. It could be useful. Or it could be a good idea that gets pushed to the back of the counter and gathers dust. I'm not much of a dish-washer to begin with. Just ask Michael. Yeah, I do my dishes, half-heartedly, eventually, and this could be just too much for my non-domestic nature to handle. But why think negatively? It could be fun, right? Or it could be that Michael will do it! Now there's a great idea!

And here's an awesome looking product that I didn't buy: Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint shampoo bar. It smells wicked cool, and it comes in a cardboard box with zero plastic. I didn't buy it because I'm already using the Re-Incarnate shampoo bar from Lush (more on that later.) But it's on my list. As soon as the current shampoo bar is gone, that thing is mine!

Eventually, I found myself once again in a toothpaste aisle opening boxes of toothpaste hoping to find something without plastic. No go. I don't think such a thing exists anymore. Not in the U.S., anyway. And no mouthwash that's not in a plastic bottle either. So when I got home, I looked up recipes for homemade tooth powder, and here's one I found on the Yes! Magazine Web site:

Combine equal parts salt and baking soda. Add a tiny bit of stevia for sweetness (1/16th tsp stevia per 2 tablespoons baking soda/salt.) For flavor, add a few drops of peppermint oil or 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon. (I wonder if peppermint extract would work as well as oil.)

So, I'm gonna do it. If I haven't found any other alternative before my current tube of toothpaste runs out, I'm just going to make my own. Martha Stewart will be so proud.