It’s becoming easier to eliminate single-use plastic. When you go grocery shopping, use a nylon tote bag. Instead of buying plastic water bottles, use water filters at home and carry a reusable water bottle when you go out. To wash your hair and brush your teeth, use shampoo bars and mouthwash tablets.
If you look hard enough, there are now ways to “de-plasticize” nearly every aspect of your life, including the laborious, expensive, and wasteful chore of cleaning your home.
You can get both a cleaner home and a cleaner planet through a clever and cost-efficient system that involves dissolvable cleaning tablets, reusable bottles, and your sink. A non-toxic cleaning tablets and sustainable packaging would change the way people clean – and after trying it ourselves, we’re converts, too.
Get three sturdy bottles made from acrylic and all labeled for different uses: multi-surface, glass and mirror, and bathroom. Also get a soap dispenser constructed with the same acrylic material.
Then you have the tablets. There’s one tablet for each purpose. The cleaning tablets make 20 ounces of solution each, while the soap tablet makes 9 ounces of solution. To make the cleaning solution, you fill the bottle up to the designated line with warm water, then drop the corresponding tablet in the bottle. Within seconds, it’s ready to use, no shaking or stirring necessary.
You should use products that are free from volatile organic compounds (VOCs), known particularly to harm pregnant or nursing women and children, and anything on the restricted list. It should also free from traditional disinfecting ingredients such as chlorine bleach. All the ingredients should natural or naturally derived, so the cleaners are hypoallergenic, and they’re pet-safe and cruelty-free.
Each one except for the glass and mirror cleaner is scented, but with none of the overpowering or harsh scents I’ve come to expect from household cleaners.
Reduce waste and saves you money and space
Instead of throwing out a plastic bottle every time you’re done with the cleaner, you can use your bottles over and over again. This system also takes advantage of the water you’re already using in your home. Also, every part of its packaging is recyclable, and the tablet wrappers are compostable and biodegradable.
Ultimately, cleaning saves more than the planet, making it a superior product all around. The tablet refills take up a fraction of the space in your cabinets of traditional cleaning products, and they’re more affordable.
Cleaning products are innovative, sustainable, effective, and affordable. All these benefits make us question why all household cleaners – and many other types of consumer products – aren’t made this way. You have little to sacrifice by trying, but much to gain.