February 23rd, 2008
These commercial cleaners have helped pave the way for the retail cleaners now appearing at your local Kroger or Safeway, suggesting formulas and proving that green can produce sparkle and sheen. Indeed, dozens of them have been subjected to rigorous testing to become “certified” as both effective and environmentally safe by independent certifiers such as Green Seal Inc..
“We’re trying to do away with that whole concern of whether green products actually do work,” says Linda Chipperfield, vice president of marketing and outreach for Green Seal. The certification group has been around since 1989 and has tested dozens of commercial green cleaners not just for their environmental impact, but for their effectiveness. They’ve found that many green cleaners hold up in side-by-side comparisons with conventional cleaners.
But what about those times you want to wipe out specific germs on a surface, zapping e coli or flu viruses or staph bacteria? What about “disinfecting” the food zone on your counter or sneezed-upon bathroom surfaces?
According to the EPA, you’d have to look for a product labeled a “disinfectant,” a government-regulated term that means the product has been tested by the EPA and shown that it can kill certain germs. The EPA testing division will then allow that product – one example is Lysol – to call itself a disinfectant and list on its label the germs that it’s proven it can kill.
Bleach is another example of a commonly registered disinfectant; another is hydrogen peroxide, said Betty Shackleford, associate director of the EPA’s anti-microbial section. However, companies may or may not have their products containing bleach or hydrogen peroxide tested and marketed as disinfectants.
The good news here is that while bleach plays havoc with the outside environment, hydrogen peroxide is much better behaved. It “breaks down rapidly in water” and “does not accumulate in the food chain,’’ according to the Centers for Disease Control. Several green cleaning brands, such as Shaklee and Seventh Generation, use hydrogen peroxide to add sanitizing punch to their products.
Planet Inc., which makes a certified biodegradable cleaner, notes that “cleaning regularly and thoroughly is generally more important to domestic hygiene than purchasing a specific disinfectant cleaner” and it avoids the potential biggest problem with disinfectants, which is that they may backfire, causing an erosion of human resistance to germs. This is highly debated turf, but worth considering if you’re interested in minimal impact on the natural and human environment.
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