Tips for eco-friendly spring cleaning

For most people, cleaning is not their favorite activity, but many of us still do a big spring cleaning every year. Such a big cleanup ensures that we can enjoy a clean house again, but unfortunately many conventional cleaning products are harmful to the environment. With a few small adjustments, we can ensure that your cleaning routine becomes eco-friendly!

Cleaning products are one of the last things I replaced with eco-friendly alternatives, when I made the switch to a zero-waste lifestyle, cleaning products were one of the last things I replaced with eco-friendly alternatives. To be completely honest, I still have an old chemical cleaning product in the cupboard that I never use because I don’t like using it. My principle is to use up everything I have before I switch to sustainable alternatives, but with chemical products I find that a lot harder, because using them is bad for the environment and our health.

Do not use toxic substances

One of the easiest ways to make your cleaning routine more sustainable is to stop using toxic cleaning products. Nowadays, there is a specific cleaning product for every cleaning task, but many of these products contain chemicals that are bad for your health and the environment. If you clean regularly, cleaning vinegar, water and a cloth will go a long way. Furthermore, disinfecting your home daily is not necessary at all, unless someone in the house has a contagious disease. Cleaning not only kills harmful bacteria, but also beneficial ones.

Eco-friendly and effective cleaning tips

Cleaning tour

Luckily, there are enough sustainable alternatives to effectively clean your home! I would like to take you on a cleaning tour of my home and share some tips on how you can clean eco-friendly with peace of mind.

The dishes

Everyone knows them, those yellow dishwashing sponges that can be found in almost every household. These synthetic sponges are made of plastic and the biggest disadvantage is that they release small microplastics during washing that are flushed down the sink and end up in the environment. You can easily prevent this by sponges or dishwashing brushes to use that are made from natural materials. My personal favorites are the loofah sponge made from the loofah plant and the silicone dish brush immediately replaceable head made of FSC-certified wood with bristles made of vegetable tampico fibre.

In addition, traditional dishwashing liquid is packaged in large plastic bottles, which can easily be replaced by delicious soap bars that will clean your dishes just as well. My personal favorite is Marseille soap, but also the cleaning soap from Werfzeep is delicious! Would you prefer liquid dishwashing detergent? You can do this by simply grating the soap bar and dissolving it in water.

The kitchen

Just like sponges, microfiber cloths can be found in almost every household. The synthetic cloths are made of plastic and release microplastics with every cleaning. In addition, these sponges and cloths are not biodegradable and create a lot of extra waste. Fortunately, there are good alternatives available, such as the EcoLiving compostable wipes made from vegetable cellulose and cotton, allowing you to clean without any worries.I personally use the wipes from ImseVimse, made of organic cotton. Both types of cloths I can easily wash and reuse after use.

Many household products such as all-purpose cleaner and kitchen degreaser contain toxic and corrosive substances. It is quite crazy that we use this to clean the space where we prepare our food. That is why I prefer to use eco-friendly cleaning products such as the OceanSavers kitchen degreaser or do I make a soup from the Marseille soap. In addition, cleaning vinegar and baking soda are indispensable in my kitchen. So plenty of choice!

The bathroom

Bleach and chlorine are often seen as effective cleaning agents, but in fact they do not clean at all, they only disinfect and bleach. It becomes clean enough if you clean with soapy water. You also have to be careful when using chlorine in the toilet, because when you mix it with urine, harmful gases are released. It is best to only flush the 3 P's down the toilet: poop, pee and paper. Since chlorine and other chemicals cannot always be filtered out so well, it is better that as little as possible ends up in the sewer. For effective cleaning and descaling of the toilet, you can opt for biodegradable agents such as baking soda and cleaning vinegar or for the toilet cleaner from Planet Detox.

I always clean my bathroom with natural bPlanet Detox adjoining soap and the plastic-free coconut sponge from EcoCoconut. These sponges are suitable for cleaning hard surfaces so you can scrub your shower and secretly I also think it looks great in my bathroom. The soap smells wonderfully fresh and cleans your bathroom thoroughly.

The floor

Like other cleaning products, many floor and carpet maintenance products contain toxic substances. Reduce the health risk by using safe products. I use Savon de Marseille for almost everything - washing dishes, cleaning surfaces, making liquid hand soap, but also for mopping my wooden floors. I simply make a soapy solution with this mild soap so that I can scrub my beautiful bamboo floor with peace of mind.

The laundry

If there is one thing I hate, it is those large plastic detergent packages, which are heavy to carry from the supermarket to your home and then take up a lot of space at home. The heavy packaging causes a lot of fuel consumption during transport. In addition, many detergents contain bleach and very small plastic parts, the so-called microbeads. The problem is that manufacturers of dishwashing detergents, unlike care products, are not obliged to list all ingredients on the packaging. This makes it a lot more difficult to choose a detergent that is free of (micro)plastic.

I have made the switch to the Tru Earth Eco-Strips, small pre-measured strips of detergent that you simply throw in the wash. Your laundry will be wonderfully clean and fresh and they take up much less space. For every minimalist this is a 'dream come true'.

Cleaning products

That cleaning products are toxic is clear, but be especially careful with cleaning sprays and air fresheners. According to researchers from the University of Bergen in Norway, regular use of cleaning products in the form of a spray, such as Glassex or kitchen degreasers, is as harmful to your lungs as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

So make sure you only use the sprays if they contain eco-friendly cleaning agents that are not harmful to your health or the environment. I personally use Ocean Savers, concentrated cleaning drops that you can add to a bottle of water.

Air fresheners provide a pleasant scent in your home, but the solvents used for this pollute the air that you then breathe in. In fact, air fresheners also fool you a bit, because they mask unpleasant odors, but do not remove them. The easiest way to get rid of unpleasant odors is to ventilate your home well. And if you still want a pleasant scent that you can enjoy, choose natural products such as the scented sticks or diffuser oils from The Very Good Candle Co.

Towards a clean world!

These were my tips that I wanted to share with you! Are you a 'clean freak' and do you have good eco-friendly cleaning tips? Share them with us by leaving a comment under this post! Together we make our house and the world just a little bit cleaner!