With spring cleaning on everyone’s minds, it is important to consider the products you use in your home! RecycleMore offers three tips you need to reduce the hazardous products in your homes, and the hazardous waste in our environment. Not only will your family, friends, and loved ones benefit from removing hazardous products in your home, but our communities and environment will benefit from the shift towards a more environmentally friendly future.

 

1. Consider the Alternatives

While the function of a household cleaner is to clean, sanitize, and help clean your home, that does not mean that these products are all safe for your home or environment. Using resources like the ThinkDirtyApp, you can scan products, learn about their ingredients, and find cleaner alternatives. Additionally, looking into household cleaning recipes can be a fun, sustainable, and an affordable approach to cleaning with products that you know are safe for you and those around you. For example, vinegar, soap, baking soda, and water are all items that are generally found in the home that serve as key ingredients in homemade cleaning recipes. Products like a metal drain snake to unclog drains can be a much safer and environmentally friendly alternative to drain cleaners, if possible.

 

2. Buy What You Need

It can be overwhelming to look for the right cleaning agent for the job; especially when there are aisles and aisles of products for every part of your home. Ultimately, this can leave you with multiple hazardous cleaners in your home. You can avoid this with all-purpose cleaners that can do multiple jobs without adding numerous cleaners in your cabinets. With the consideration of creating homemade all-purpose cleaners, you can create a safer, more affordable alternative to the multiple cleaners tucked under your kitchen or bathroom sink.

If you must buy more than one, consider the use and how much you might need to be able to get the job completed.

 

3. Check the Label

As mentioned earlier, while cleaning products clean your home, the ingredients in these products may have harmful impacts to your loved ones and the environment we live in. Read the label and educate yourself on the ingredients and be sure to follow the usage instructions.

 

 

 

Consider these tips to make more mindful decisions in regards to what you bring into your home and ultimately help reduce the number of household hazardous cleaning products in your residence.

If you do have household hazardous waste, please do not put them in your garbage (it is illegal). If you are a resident of West Contra Costa County, bring your unwanted items to the Hazardous Waste Collection Facilities in Richmond and El Cerrito. To learn more and how to properly dispose of these items, click here for more information.