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Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

A green healthy home using eco-friendly steps for a place that is safe for everyone, especially our precious children, and doesn't hurt the local environment. Some steps to a healthier home are to ventilate rooms, replace synthetic furnishings and coverings, shift to natural cleaners, avoid pesticides in the home and garden and store and dispose of chemicals safely.

A healthy home is a place that is safe for everyone, especially children, and doesn't hurt the local environment.  Some steps to a healthier home are to ventilate rooms, replace synthetic furnishings and coverings, shift to natural cleaners, avoid pesticides in the home and garden and store and dispose of chemicals safely.

Dry-cleaned clothes give off Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Synthetic carpets, furnishings and coverings and chemical cleaning products give off VOCs

Lead dust which can lead to lead poisoning can accumulate in walls, ceilings and under floors

Air fresheners, disinfectants, window cleaners and anti-mould preparations contain chemicals such as solvents, bleach ammonia and chlorine

Pesticides used indoors or outdoors can act as powerful poisons

Car batteries, pool chemicals and motor fuels contain chemicals that can burn skin or eyes

Gases from stoves, heaters and fireplaces contain carbondioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and dulphur dioxide

Drain cleaners and oven cleaners contain corrosive chemicals that can burn skin and mucous membranes

Read on for steps to a healthier lifestyle:

Living Areas

Step 1- Ventilate!

The cheapest and easiest way to improve indoor air quality is to let more of the outside air in!  Allowing good ventilation to flow through windows, wall vents and ducts is the best first step you can take to detoxing your home.

Step 2- Choose natural flooring and furnishings

Avoid synthetic floorings, furnishing covers and cushions wherever possible and choose natural materials such as wool carpets, felt underlays, cotton, linen, wool or hessian fabrics and latex or natural fibre cushions.

Floor coverings and furnishings should be aired regularly and cleaned with non-toxic products.  Low maintenance floors such as wood or tile are preferable to carpet.

Step 3- Introduce indoor plants

Indoor plants can help to clean indoor air.  Madonna Lily, Spider Plant, Boston Fern and English Ivy are examples of plants suitable for indoors that can reduce indoor air pollution.  A two-year study by NASA in the USA found that indoor plants can be very effective for absorbing toxic indoor chemicals in the air. 

Step 4- Avoid air fresheners

Use your sense of smell.  Unpleasant odours, plastic smells and dusty smells are giving you an important message about air quality.  Don't blunt your senses with artificial fragrances or air fresheners- reduce undesirable odours by ventilating and removing the causes of the problem.

Kitchen and Bathrooms

Step 5- Switch to natural cleaners

Common commercial cleaners often contain dangerous chemicals.  Disinfectants, oven cleaners, drain cleaners, floor polishes, anti-mould preparations and window cleaners can contain a potent mix including solvents, bleach, ammonia and chlorine.  Try replacing these chemicals cleaners with natural alternatives.  With a simple, cheap and environmentally friendly green cleaning kit you can make your home a safer place for you and your children.

Step 6- Check your stoves and heaters

Gas, kerosene, and wood heaters and stoves produce gases that can cause breathing problems (especially for asthmatics), headaches, dizziness and nausea.  Get gas appliances serviced regularly and checked for leaks.  Make sure all combustion cooking and heating equipment is flued to the outside.  Good ventilation will go a long way in reducing these hazards.

Step 7- Practice common sense cleaning

Most people probably don't realise jus how harmful common household cleaners can be.  Here are a few safety tips to remember:

Don't place them in the garbage- check http://www.resource.nsw.gov.au/cleanout/chemical_collection.htm for the next chemical drop-off collection.

Try to buy less cleaning products- purchase only what you need and buy concentrates or refills wherever possible.  Many commercial cleaning products contain chemicals than can cause harm to the environment.

Be informed.  If you must buy commercial cleaners, read the labels carefully and follow all safety instructions.  If you or your family are sensitive to chemicals, suffer from respiratory problems or allergies, take special care.

Renovating

Step 8- Choose water-based paints

Always prefer water-based paints.  Solvent based paints creat organic chemicals which evaporate as they dry (Volatile Organic Compounds)

Step 9- Be careful with paint strippers and solvents

Paint strippers and solvents that dissolve or thin oil-based paint.  Benzene toluene and xylene are examples of hazardous solvents found in strippers.  Choose less toxic alternatives such as citris-based paint stripper.

Step 10- Use natural materials

Avoid using composite wood products such as chipboard or particle board give off formaldehyde vapours.  Use natural building materials as much as possible such as recycled timber, gypsum, plasterboard, cork flooring, natural fibre insulation materials, underfelts and floor coverings.

Step 11- Be lead safe

Lead is a major health risk, especially to young children.  Lead can slow children's learning and development and if ingested can lead to lead poisoning.  All houses built before 1970 contain lead paint.  Renovating can release large amounts of lead contaminated paint dust.  Follow these steps:

• Protect yourself with an Australian Standard 1716 approved respirator with P1 (dust) or P2 (dust and fumes) filters- paper masks don't protect against fine dust.
• Move pregnant women, children and pets away until the clean-up is finished.
• Cover all furnishings, wear protective clothing, and wash hands and face before meals.
• Clean up with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) vacuum cleaner- not a domestic vacuum cleaner.  HEPA vacuum cleaners are available for hire.

• Be Child Safe

• Common cleaners and chemicals around the home are responsible for tens of thousands of childhood poisoning incidents every year in Australia.  Bleach, laundry detergents, disinfectants, oven cleaners, furniture polishes, floor cleaners, dishwashing liquid and medicines can hold a near fatal attraction to children.  These often contain colourful liquids or tablets- perfect for curious toddlers.

   

• Step 12- Keep dust down

• House dust often contains lead, toxic chemicals, allergens, moulds and fibres which irritate the lungs.  Reducing dust in your home through regular airing is one of the best ways to protect young children.

• Step 13- Kid Safe your home

• Protect your home with these safe storage tips:

• Buy products with childproof seals

• Keep cleaners, solvents and other chemicals in their original container.  Make sure the label is intact.

• Store in a cool dry place out of the way of children.

• Keep lids tightly closed to avoid leaks, spills and fumes.

• Keep cockroach baits and other pesticides well away from children.  Better still, don't use them!

• Keep any potentially hazardous items in a secured (locked) cupboard.

• Home health and pregnancy- Some chemicals can cause harm to unborn children.  It is particularly important to avoid exposure to hazardous compounds during pregnancy.  Solvents, pesticides (including insecticides, herbicides and fungicides), dry cleaning fluids and anti-mould preparations are some of the chemical hazards to be avoided.  Lead can be passed to babies through pregnancy and breastfeeding and may cause low birth weight or miscarriage. Try these child safe tips: Always label and keep hazardous products securely stored away from food, pets and children. Try to avoid purchasing hazardous products at all.  Look for alternatives that are low toxic and safe for you, your family and the environment. Return any unused medicines to your Chemist- they will safely dispose of them. If you can't use or give away leftover chemicals and cleaners, make sure you dispose of them responsibly.  Check http://www.resource.nsw.gov.au/cleanout/chemical_collection.htm  for the next chemical drop-off collection.

• In the Garden

• Chemicals used to treat common pests, such as cockroaches, ants, spiders, fleas and termites can be powerful poisons, not only for pests but also for people and pets.  Pesticides don't discriminate- often by using pesticides around the garden, we kill the good bugs along with the bad.

  Step 14- Use a common sense approach to pests

• There is a safer way to get rid of pests around your home.  It's called Integrated Pest Management (IPM), but it's really just common sense.  It is based on using simple and environmentally friendly ways to get rid of the problem and only using chemicals as a final resort.  There are three steps:

  (1) Physical controls- Make your home and garden a less attractive place for pests.

  • Keep it clean! Clean up food scraps that attract insects and remove dark, moist hiding places.
  • Keep them out!  Block up holes and cracks.  Use barriers against garden pests (a ring of crushed eggshells or garden lime around seedlings discourages snails and slugs).
  • Use simple traps and hand remove caterpillars and snails.

  (2) Biological controls

  • Encourage the good insects rather than the bad- ladybirds and lacewings love to feast on aphids.
  • Plant flowers and herbs such as basil, marigolds, rosemary, lavender and garlic around your vegetables.  These will discourage insect pests.

  (3) Chemical controls- Your last resort

  • Try organic controls first- for example, a simple homemade spray can be made from garlic (use for aphids, mites and caterpillars). 
  • Use natural pyrethrum pesticides.
  • If you must reach for a chemcial pesticide, make sure you read the label, only use it against target pest, wear protective clothing and apply only as much as you need.

  Eco-gardening tips- Did you know you can get a great organic garden without using chemicals at all? Compostin is a great way to produce natural mulch and fertiliser.  Mulch keeps weeds down and reduces the need to water.  Lawn clippings, shredded garden prunings and even food scraps can be composted to make a great natural fertiliser for your garden. Worm farmsare fun.  The worms eat kitchen scraps and produce fabulous fertiliser.

  In the Garage

  The garage is a common place to store hazardous materials - old paints, thinners, adhesives, car oil, solvents such as kerosene and methylated spirits, pool chlorine and old batteries.  Make sure your garage doesn't become a health hazard! Old paint makes up the largest component of household hazardous waste requiring disposal.  Leftover paint should NEVER be disposed down the drain or sewer or into the garbage, but should ne taken to a proper household hazardous waste disposal facility. Call 1300 787 870 for the next free chemical clean out in your area or check Drop Off Centres for Recyclable Goods for details of places where you can dispose of chemicals for testing and reuse safely.

  Step 15- Store Chemicals Safely

  Store these items safely and take precautions when handling them:

  • Never store hazardous items in old food or drink containers.
  • Never throw hazardous wastes down drains, the toilet into the soil or into the garbage bin.
  • Always label chemicals used around the home.
  • Always store hazardous materials in a safe secure place well away from children and pets.

  Some tips on reducing leftover paint: Seal paint tins well after use and store upside down.  This will keep the paint fresh for the next use. Buy just enough paint for the job at hand.  4 litres of acrylic (water based) paint will coat an area of about 60 square metres. Use leftover paint on other home improvement projects- give the dog kennel or letter box a fresh coat. Give it away to a neighbour or community group. Once all the paint is used up, let the can dry and take it to a recycling depot.

  Step 16- Protect Yourself

• Personal Protective Equipment- To Avoid exposure to chemicals used around the home and garden, remember to have on hand:

  • Gloves
  • Protective clothing such as long-sleeved shirt and trousers
  • Safety glasses
  • Dust mask

  Remember prevention is always better than cure!

  Step 17- Practice safe disposal

  Waste motor oil and car batteries can be recycled, check http://www.resource.nsw.gov.au/cleanout/chemical_collection.htm (phone 1300 787 870) for the next chemical drop-off collection.

  Never bury hazardous substances- they can travel a long way in groundwater. Never put hazardous substances, like garden chemicals, batteries or paint into the garbage- it just shifts the problem to somebody else's community.

  For further information, visit http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au Information for this webpage has been taken from:

  • 'A Consumers Guide to Cleaning and Greening', Total Environment Centre
  • www.canadiancountrywoman.com
  • www.taoherbfarm.com
  • Teresa Rutherford, Compost Happens, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • Detox Your Home- an easy guide to a safer and healthier lifestyle, Southern Sydney Wasteboard