Environmentally Friendly Products

#21

Not to be silly but…

Lemon
Vinegar
Baking soda
Soda water
Dried herb and flower leaves and petals

I use a product for clothes washing that is probably not sold there.

I do use the old fashioned cleaner here called Gumption I admit - for stubborn stains on tiles etc. It’s like a thick paste but you only need a little and I would buy one a year only at most.

My son had a foul drain in his apartment and I poured baking soda down it and then hot water…left it a while and re-did it. No smell. It fizzed up and did a wonderful job.

Re the dried herbs etc. SO many commercial bathroom/room scents etc are made with throw away plastic and chemical compositions. If you have a really good assortment of dried leaves and flowers with a stick of cinnamon this often does a fine job as an air freshener. I love lavender too for this. Hanging a bunch up and it looks pretty.

3 Likes
#22

Lemon
Vinegar
Baking soda
Soda water
Dried herb and flower leaves and petals

I use vinegar and water on my floors and Bon Ami powder cleanser on sinks/toilets.

1 Like
#23

Re: trash… Our city requires us to have recyling, trash and green waste bins. We always have far more recyclables than trash and some weeks we only put out the recycle bin.

I’m using up my plastic trash bags right now, but want to get some biodegradable soon. I bought some bags for reusing at Target. $1 each…couldn’t pass them up so I have 3 now.

#24

Hmmm…no recycle program where I live. This was one thing that was difficult to adjust to after moving from south FL, where recycling is huge.

[COLOR=Red][B]Here’s[/B][/COLOR] a site that sells biodegradable bags (along with a bunch of other stuff).

#25

Obviously not near metals but a cheap effectively cleaner can be salt at times…few drops of water and a small soft bristled scrubbing brush. Salt water is also quite a good mouth rinse.

#26

Baking soda was incorrect actually. My apologies. It was bicarbonate of soda (which is also in baking soda). It was bicarb I used on the drains.

#27

OMG, you overwhelm me! Here in Israel recycling is so under-developed, there are barely special bins for plastic bottles on the streets. Nobody recycles paper. And i’m using all the regular laundry stuff and detergents. You all got me thinking! I can’t really recycle my trash, i put it in plastic bags i get from the supermarket, it’s cheaper than to buy special plastic bags for trash. and i suppose if i’ll find biodegradable (sp?) ones they will cost a fortune here. I did find stores that sell Ecover products and i’ll go and check it out. It’s hard and extremely expensive to be enviromentaly aware in a country that doesn’t give a d…n about it’s nature, killing the Dead Sea little by little and lots of other examples. You’re great enablers:hug:!

#28

Made the pilgrimage to this place yesterday. :woohoo:http://www.wildoats.com/u/home/

Lots and lots of earth friendly products there.

#29

What do you do about your trash?

If there isn’t a good recycle program through your garbage company some local natural food stores might take some items. In our town the recycling program is awsome. But the local Co-op takes frozen food boxes, aseptic containers-like soy milk comes in, and styrafoam. So we take all that sort of thing over there since it can’t be taken at cub side. Mailing companies often will take and reuse styrafoam packaging “peanuts” too. There are also new peanuts out there made of cellulose that break down in water.
The other idea- though it takes some planning is don’t buy items with excessive packaging in the first place. We never buy things like Lunchables and try to avoid other products that have 3 layers of packaging before you get to the item.

#30

Nat, if you don’t have recycling there are things you can do to help that don’t really cost money or much at all anyway. If you work take your lunch in something like tupperware so you don’t have any trash waste. Use vinegar and baking soda for cleaning when you can, etc. Every little bit helps. You might also if you can send a letter or get all your earth friendly friends to send letters or approach a city council…not sure how your country works.

#31

Thanks, Jan! I do actually take my lunch in a box :teehee:. The problem is that Israel is lots of years behind on the recycling issue. People are like “oh, we have plastic bags - cool! Let’s use them as much as possible!”. When i mentioned that i’d prefer to get cloth diapers whenever i have a baby (i can get some on eBay), everyone looked at me like i dropped from the moon or something… Nobody can realize the mount of diapers each baby produces :hair: There is a “green” student society in my university, but the biggest thing they’ve achieved was that the cafeterias won’t sell coffee in plastic cups:shrug:. But I promise to try my best!

#32

Just came across this today

I subscribe to http://www.motherearthnews.com/

and they have a sister site with lots of info

1 Like
#33

Something I began in February is the following, recommended by a friend and detailed at natureskills.com. So far, I’m only saving the grease in the freezer. When the weather turns, I’ll mix up a batch.

Make your own home-make suet cakes. I save all the bacon fat in a coffee can and when it’s nearly full I melt it down and add corn meal, peanut butter, honey, and chopped fruit or nuts, then pour this in tuna cans, let harden in the refrigerator, and nail the can to a tree. Don’t use seed in this mixture because birds that are attracted to suet are insect eaters, not seed eaters. Most commercial seed cakes have seed in it and the birds attracted to the suet drop the seed to the ground which eventually gets eaten by a ground eating birds so why bother? Home made suet mixture is very popular with lots of birds, but the squirrels love it too. Put one tuna can on the window sill platform just for the small birds and one out on the tree for the squirrels and woodpeckers.

#34

This thread is AWESOME, Janny!! :hug:

Re: the plastic bag issue, we use [B]Seventh Generation[/B] (linked to several times above) garbage bags… they are biodegradable.

We also use [B]Seventh Generation[/B] [B]TP, napkins, dishwasher detergent & rinse agent, baby wipes[/B] [COLOR=silver](for DH… dont ask. :roll: )[/COLOR] , and several other things that I cant remember at the moment. We shop through [B]Gaiam.com.[/B]

Does anyone know of any good eco/wildlife-friendly solution to algae growth in fountains/birdbaths?

#35

I don’t have any product knowledge, but you might try www.realgoods.com, it’s now a Gaiam company and they used to carry things like this.

#36

Hey look what I found! Maybe these will work?
http://faunasafe.com/detail.html

I guess I have to try this Seventh Generation stuff since so many of you use it! Next time I go shopping for sure! I am also making note and bookmarking sites you’ve give me for all the products! :cheering:

#37

Don’t forget to go to Seventh Generation’s website… They do have coupons on their site that you can download.

#38

I got some at Lowes or Home Depot. They can be used in fountains with fish. [B]They’re made by Jungle called Fountain Block.[/B] They’re also made in the USA, something I’ve started looking for since all the Chinese junk has been coming out and recalled.

#39

Have more natural shampoos and conditioners had a look in yet? Again, I do buy a commercial brand…sort of…from a health food store and it has none of the sodium elements and parabens etc.

This is one recipe for homemade shampoo. I would not use the oils and rubbing alcohol tho. I would simple boil up the herbs and add them that way:

http://www.happynews.com/living/haircare/make-shampoo.htm

Castile soap is mentioned in many many homemade shampoo recipes. Even if you think…nope…have to buy shampoo…these recipes are good for scented bath oils and then of course you would use essential oils perhaps. But I love the smell of steamed or lightly boiled lavender and chamomile.

To make good bath salts you can buy…gosh…what is the basic ingredient of say radox…gone clear out of my head…anyway…you buy that LOL and add fresh ground herbs to it and make it up into little dunkable sachets…cheese cloth or similar…and those are nice little gifts too. A friend once found these rather giant gel capsules…empty ones…and filled those. The gel simply melted away in the hot water and she used to throw a handful into the bath and it was dreamy.

#40

My parents always buy [B]Dr. Bronner’s castile soap[/B] and its great because it can be used for a million different things. They get the pepermint one, and you can use as shampoo or even to brush your teeth! They also make the bottles out of recycled plastic.