No one would argue that there’s a growing consciousness about the impact that we, as humans, have on the environment. While much of the media’s focus has been on greenhouse gas emissions and the ways we can lessen our carbon footprint, less attention has been paid to the impact that conventional cleaning products and methods have on our health and on the environment. Although chlorofluorocarbons have long been recognized as contributing to the depletion of the earth’s ozone layer, and have been largely eliminated from consumer products, conventional cleaning products continue to have a detrimental effect on the environment. To that end, there has been a wave of “green cleaning” products entering the marketplace.
Traditional Cleaning Products
Most traditional cleaning products contain a variety of potentially harmful chemicals, in part because they are largely unregulated and in part because there are few labeling requirements. For example, many cleaning products contain phosphates (which are also a primary component of many fertilizers), which can contaminate water and rob lakes and rivers of oxygen. Likewise, many cleaning products...