For the health of the environment, your household and you, there are plenty of reasons to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. According to the professional network Deloitte, avoiding single-use plastics was how the UK showed their commitment to the planet last year. Together, we’re making environmentally sound choices because knowledge is power but, it’s going to take more than cutting our plastic consumption to make any significant changes. If you’re keen to find other ways to do good and break habits, here’s how to adopt a greener cleaning routine.
Eco cleaning at a glance
Essential to maintaining a beautiful home and feeling great, housework is a big part of our lives. Unfortunately, the sad fact is most off-the-shelf products are loaded with toxins and can also be harmful to health. The benefits of a green cleaning regime just can’t be compared, and it’s so easy to implement these small changes yourself! If you’re looking to make the big switch, and continue our fight for the planet, here are five ways to do eco-cleaning at home.
5 ways to adopt a green cleaning regime
Choose a pH-neutral cleaner
If you’ve never used a pH-neutral cleaner before, it’s time to start now for a balanced and eco-friendly routine. CLEANER PRO is suitable for any hard surface, including natural stone worktops and floors, and is particularly beneficial for those materials that are sensitive to acids. Cleaning products with higher levels of alkaline or acid are no good for the planet, and the production process can cause as much damage as the products themselves. A pH-neutral cleaner will also be less toxic for you and your household – it’s never been easier to make safer cleaning a part of daily life!
Ditch the disposables
Beginning life as an aid for mums and messy babies, wet wipes can be found in many bathrooms all over the world. Unfortunately, however, these troublesome wipes are completely no good and are causing many problems for wastewater systems. In fact, in 2017, it was recorded wet wipes made up more than 90% of the material causing sewer blockages in the UK. Along with other types of plastic pollution, they can also take over a hundred years to break down – we suggest ditching the disposables and sticking to reusable cloths for your natural stone.
Seal natural stone with a green protector
Natural stone is not only a durable, beautiful choice for any household, but it’s also one of the most sustainable materials that you can buy too! And with a greater social demand for even greener standards, there’s no doubt stone will stand as long as the actual surface does itself. To prolong the life of your stone, you’ll need an excellent sealer, and a green protector will work to facilitate cleaning in the most eco of ways. Our favourite, however, has to be MP90 ECO XTREME, a water-based protector that hampers the absorption of common watery and oily stains.
Use an all-surface cleaner whenever possible
We’re all working hard to reduce the amount of single-use plastics we use, but we must keep going and spread awareness wherever we can. Another area that would benefit from the green treatment is your cleaning collection, and specifically, the number of different products you use. Switch to a gentle all-surface cleaner, and you’ll tackle all manner of tasks whilst cutting down on the amount of plastic bottles you buy! FILA’s eco and versatile cleaners are great for natural stone; choose from SANIFAST, BRIO or our tea-tree based RAPIDSAN!
Skip the synthetic scents
Have you been known to buy plug-in air fresheners or fragranced room sprays? You need to ditch these from your routine right now! Synthetic fragrances often contain a group of chemicals called phthalates, and according to research, these can trigger asthma in children and damage the liver, kidneys and lungs. If you miss that freshly cleaned scent, why not try making your own by blending your favourite essential oils in an electric diffuser? Even better, FILA’s RAPIDSAN is an eco-disinfectant that contains the natural scent of tea tree along with other germ-fighting properties.
Next-generation green cleaning with FILA
Although sustainable cleaning is better for the environment, you should still take precautions when using or storing green products. At FILA, being EcoVadis certified means our path towards a carbon-free future is well underway, please get in touch with our team to find out more. Thanks again.