Bleach substitute?
Posted by bookmama on Sep 09, 2007 · Member since Oct 2006 · 1190 posts
A few weeks back someone posted that Ecover tests on animals. The only Ecover product I use is their bleach alternative. It's the only one my WF carries (is it the only one made?). Needless to say, I'm interested in finding an alternative. The ingredients on the bottle are just hydrogen peroxide and water. Now, I should be able to manage that--only I don't know what proportion of either. What would you recommend to make a gallon of "bleach?"
http://ecochildsplay.blogspot.com/2007/08/avoid-chlorine-bleach-make-your-own.html
"When shopping in your local co-op or natural food store, you may see alternative bleach products sold by companies such as Seventh Generation. The active ingredient in these alternative bleach products is hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is not carcinogenic to humans, but it is a skin irritant and harmful if swallowed or exposed to the eyes. In addition, it can be harmful to aquatic life. It is simple and more cost effective to make your own oxygen-based whitener by mixing hydrogen peroxide with water, in about a 50:50 ratio. According to Seventh Generation, "If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 48 oz. chlorine bleach with non-chlorine bleach we could prevent 8.2 million pounds of chlorine from entering our environment."
Another alternative to chlorine bleach is to let the sun do the whitening for you. Add 1/2 cup of lemon juice into the rinse cycle, then hang your clothes to dry in the sun. The acid in the lemon juice provides bleaching power, and the sun will sanitize your clothes. This option is great for colors too and will reduce your carbon footprint by eliminating clothes dryer usage!
Alternatives to chlorine bleach do exist, and with a little bit of effort, you can protect your family and environment from this potentially harmful product. Lemon juice, the sun, and hydrogen peroxide provide alternatives accessible to everyone. Keep your whites bright while making your home a safer place! "
I'm confused. On the one hand it says HP is not carcinogenic to humans but can be harmful to aquatic life, then it tells you how to make your own HP and water bleach alternative and cites it with lemon juice and the sun as an alternative "accessible to everyone," "keep(ing) your whites bright while making your home a safer place."
It's not likely that I'm going to use lemon juice and/or the sun on my clothes (time, expense, place to hang) so I'd like to have something more cost effective. Are they saying that what WE would make with a 50:50 solution would be a better alternative than what the companies sell?
I googled different "homemade bleach atlernatives" sites and some sites mention just using 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide in your laundry instead of bleach (no mention of diluting with water beforehand). Here's one specific site:
http://www.h2o2-4u.com/house.html
"Laundry: Add 8 ounces of 3% hydrogen peroxide to your wash in place of bleaches."
I took the previous posting as meaning to replace a 50:50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and water instead of using the bleach.
From the same site as above in this post:
"Hydrogen peroxide is the only germicidal agent composed only of water and oxygen. Like ozone, it kills disease organisms by oxidation! Hydrogen peroxide is considered the worlds safest all natural effective surface* sanitizer. It kills microorganisms by oxidizing them, which can be best described as a controlled burning process. When hydrogen peroxide reacts with organic material it breaks down into oxygen and water."
So maybe that's why hydrogen peroxide can be harmful to aquatic life-- microorganinsms' molecules are effected. ???
Thanks so much for your "legwork." I think I'm going to try making my own.
loads of stuff substitutes for bleach- depending on where/how you're using it (some disinfect, some kill germs, some lighten laundry, some increase the effectiveness of soap). you could look into:
washing/laundry soda (aka 'soda crystals')
borax
vinegar
hydrogen peroxide
essential oils like tea tree, eucalyptus, lavander, rosemary, lots of the citrus ones, etc
i don't remember if i saw the ecover thread here (i remember one on veggieboards though) but apparently ecover tested the effect of their products on aquatic life, using microscopic water fleas. i don't know what alternatives there are, or whether or not the test was mandatory. additionaly, they've now declared that their CEO will be drawing his own blood, to replace the something like 10ml or less of rabbit blood per year that they used previously- which i think is a very positive step.