Deconstructing Eco-friendly Floor Cleaners

We are all familiar with the satisfaction that one gets when our home has had a deep cleaning – the floor wiped spotlessly clean of stains and dust.

Now – take a step back and reimagine the same scenario with details invisible to our eye. The commonly available floor cleaner leaves residues of sulphates that irritate your child’s skin, phthalates that harm your lungs, and phosphates that choke aquatic life when released with waste water into the environment. A High price to pay for visual satisfaction.

Fortunately, the awareness and need for plant-powered floor cleaners has been growing rapidly, resulting in an explosion of demand for these. While we urge you to make the switch sooner rather than later, we help you understand just how these gentle plants can clean quite so effectively.

The 5-second rule

The 5-second rule suggests that any food that falls on the floor can be eaten if picked up within 5 seconds – however, this may be a better idea if the floors are cleaned with a solution that has no toxic chemicals in its composition, wouldn’t it?

Commercial products contain a host of harsh, active ingredients like ammonium hydroxide (strong cleaning agent but highly toxic and corrosive to eyes, skin and respiratory systems) and Triclosan that disinfects but at a high cost of allergies and hormonal imbalances to children.

What do you get with eco-friendly floor cleaners?

A lot of science and testing goes into the formulation of eco-friendly cleaners like Tierra to ensure that you get all the sparkle without any of the toxicity. These are the ways in which green cleaning agents work to create significant benefits in your health and environment.

1. Better immunity: Plant-based formulations work by releasing natural surfactants that seep into the pores and cracks, and directly work to break down the molecules of dirt or odour. A healthy mopping can then easily wipe away these particles. However, this is done without wiping away the good bacteria that exist naturally in the environment like the harsher synthetic agents do. These good bacteria actually challenge the immunity systems of growing kids in a safe way and should be retained.

2. Pet and kid safety: Natural products are devoid of toxic chemicals like ethanol, phosphates and sulphates, which mean that your children and pets can happily play on the floor without being exposed to allergic reactions or respiratory irritations, or hormonal imbalances over the long term. The evidence of commercially formulated ingredients on our health is well documented.

3. Ecological balance: There is a lot of news around how eco-friendly cleaners revive the ecological balance - but how do they do that? For one, the overpowering fragrance, lather and disinfectants in a commercial cleaner comes from extremely strong chemicals like phthalates, formaldehyde and phosphates. All those detergent ads with bubbles and foam to signify deep cleaning are actually causing great harm to the environment – plant-based cleaners do the same cleaning quietly without the smoke and effect. These chemicals, while not extremely dangerous to aquatic life – promote the growth of green algae that grow rapidly and choke all marine life. Whereas, plant based floor cleaners like Tierra are biodegradable and are so safe that they can be reused to water the plants in your home!

Safe Cleaning Ingredients

Many safe cleaning ingredients are found in our kitchens. In our busy lifestyles we may not always get the time to put together the right natural ingredients that offer the magic sweet spot of great cleaning without toxicity. In which case, products like Tierra offer a range of eco-friendly cleaners that are very carefully researched and formulated keeping these requirements in mind. Here is an overview of what goes into most of the plant based cleaning products – most of them are composed of some or all of these ingredients.

• Vinegar and baking soda for easy at-home ingredients
• Plant-based surfactants
• Glucosides or vegetable oils that work against deep stains
• Concentrated coconut extracts that are natural and powerful disinfectants
• Trisodium Citrate for emulsifying and as an alkalizing agent
• Sodium Gluconate as chelating agent especially in hard water
• Glycerine to separate the oil from the water for easy removal
• Fragrance extracted from plant sources like Basil, Lime, Lemongrass, Teatree oil, Lavender, Neem etc.

If you wish to make the switch away from harsh chemicals and towards a home you can breathe safely in – click here to discover the Tierra range of eco-friendly cleaning products in fresh fragrances.

The Tierra tribe of eco-conscious community is a rapidly growing one – if you would like to join them for a conscious way of living, do log on.