Environmental House Cleaning Costs

When most people look at house cleaning costs they usually think about the financial costs, and perhaps the work effort, but it important to consider the environmental costs as well.

There was a time when I used to wave this off, I wasn't contributing that much to the problem, after all. But if you add my stuff, and my neighbor and their neighbors, it very quickly adds up.

My choices may not make a huge difference, but as we all make incremental changes, the difference will add up.

Environmental cleaning costs include the following:

A. Volume for recycling - most of the packaging falls into this category

B. Volume to the landfill - a surprisingly large volume of wipes, cloths and pads.

C. Potentially toxic chemicals poured down the sink and released into the groundwater at the landfill. Even though alot of what goes down the drain is neutralized at the water treatment plant, that process also releases its own array of chemicals into the water system. The more chemicals that find their way into the sewar system, the more chemicals are required to treat that water at the sewage plant.

1. Popular Commercial Chemical Methods

To recycling: 59 empty plastic containers with chemical residue paper and rolls from 26 rolls of paper towel

To the landfill: 364 disposable wipes with cleaner residue 208 Swiffer wetpads with cleaner residue 26 J-cloths 13 leftover bits from magic eraser

Potentially toxic chemicals down the sink: go to toxic chemicals

2. Commercial Eco-friendly Methods

To recycling: 59 empty plastic containers paper and rolls from 26 rolls of paper towel

To the landfill: 364 disposable wipes

Potentially toxic chemicals down the sink: Unlikely

3. Home-Made Cleaning Products

To recycling: paper and rolls from 13 rolls of paper towel

Potentially toxic chemicals down the sink: Depends on what is used - go to toxic chemicals and non-toxic chemicals to view the possibilities.

4. Non-Chemical Cleaning Methods

To recycling: paper and rolls from 13 rolls of paper towel

Potentially toxic chemicals down the sink: none

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