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We are spending more time inside our home, therefore it is crucial that we create a healthier space that can improve our energy level, immune system, and lifestyle. There are many toxic products you can avoid and dozens of changes you can make, however, if you want to start today and have low to no budget to spend, you can definitely still start building a chemical free home. These changes can reduce your chances of getting serious diseases or health problems in the long term.
This article is part of the series: Earth, Body & Mind, in which my goal is to share how our three homes are interconnected. If the environment is healthy, we are healthy too. Therefore, I invite you to be part of this series and learn about our three homes, how to take care of them and let them thrive. If you don’t want to miss any publication for this series and get exclusive access to more content, subscribe to our newsletter by using the subscription box at the end of the article.
Table of Contents
The Problem: Indoor Air Pollution
Toxic products are the main reason why our home isn’t a safe place. It is quite difficult to imagine how our home and our furniture, walls, and the products we use are constantly emitting toxins that are contributing to indoor air pollution.
Moreover, the release of pollutants in the air not only affects the environment but can also have health consequences. We tend to believe that by staying inside our house we are safer from pollution, and even if this could be partially true, your own house is contributing to indoor air pollution that is damaging your health.
The air pollutants are found in cleaning products, personal hygiene products, furniture, fragrances, air fresheners, toys, baby car seats, and even stamped t-shirts. These objects release toxins to the air which we inhale. If you don’t inhale them right away, they can remain as dust particles. That is why the easiest step for having a chemical-free home is by dusting regularly.
So how can you reduce indoor air pollution?
Types of Indoor Air Pollutants
One of the top air pollutants that we can reduce are non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs). This pollutant can react with different chemicals. The most common one is formaldehyde, a colorless flammable gas that, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, can cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, throat and at high levels of exposure, it can be related with some types of cancer.
It is uncertain for how long and what quantity one should be exposed to the indoor air pollutants to have certain health problems. Some people could get sick immediately, while others could manifest health issues in the long run. However, it is important to reduce your exposure to these pollutants as soon as possible.
Countries like the UK have reduction goals for 2030 where they’ll drastically reduce some types of pollutants by demanding safer domestic appliances and ban toxic substances in cleaning and personal products. Nevertheless, it is important to help accelerate this change by being mindful consumers. Why wait for new legislation if you can make significant changes today to protect you.
Other air pollutants that you can reduce by changing your lifestyle are synthetic endocrine disruptors. These are very harmful and no quantity is safe to ingest. They are that harmful to your health.
Endocrine disruptors are also found in food, cosmetics and more but we’ll address these in another article. We can be in contact with endocrine disruptors via cutaneous, intravenous, digestive and respiratory routes.
Just like dusting, ventilation is an effective way to reduce indoor air pollutants, however, the real solution is not only to open the window so that the problem “goes away” because sooner or later it’ll affect you again. The quickest way to solve this is by reducing or eliminating the amount of toxic products we use.
These are the quickest changes you can do and what safe non toxic products you can try.
Product Swaps for Living Chemical Free
Candles
They are beautiful and very useful for decorative purposes and of course scenting your home. You may feel relaxed but they might be doing the opposite. They are known for emitting NMVOCs.
The worst ones are paraffin wax candles. Paraffin comes from petroleum waste so it needs to be scented and bleached before turning it into wax. Paraffin candles irritate your eyes, nose and throat and release cancerigen gases like toluene and benzene.
However, don’t say goodbye to your birthday candle just yet. If you want to relax in your bathtub like Chandler Bing and scent your home responsibly, here are some great alternatives.
You can always DIY your own candles with sustainable ingredients. But if you are not crafty at all, you can opt to buy coconut or soy wax candles. Soy candles could still contain small amounts of paraffin as an ingredient, so it is important to investigate the ingredients they use and the brand before buying them.
You can also find beeswax candles, but these clearly aren’t cruelty-free.
Nevertheless, wax is not the only component you have to be aware of. Scented candles are the worst. And here is why.
Fragrances and the benefits of switching to fragrance- free
Synthetic fragrances are found in toxic products like candles, perfumes, air-fresheners, cleaning products, toilet paper, sanitary pads, tampons, and even garbage bags. Unbelievable, I know. Most of them are derived from chemicals and petroleum.
What can you use to substitute artificial fragrances for natural alternatives?
Add plants as part of your decoration:
They are stress-relievers, which could be a perfect alternative to candles, however, they are not air purifiers.
The Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology published in Nature that houseplants don’t improve air quality because they don’t have enough capacity of absorbing all of the VOC’s. We would need hundreds of plants inside our house to reduce these pollutants. However, some plants can help improve or eliminate the smells of your home.
Essential oils:
Essential oils are extracted from plants through a steam distillation process. Consequently, the oils are more sustainable and safer than other options. They are used for aromatherapy, cleaning products and personal care products. If you opt for using essential oils, make sure to buy the ones that are certified or look for local farmers who can’t afford the certification but are doing everything right and are taking care of the environment. Although they are natural alternatives, not every essential oil brand is sustainable because they exploit natural resources.
For the other products with fragrances mentioned above, there are eco friendly swaps you can try instead of the traditional products. Check out our blog page for more information about them.
Most cleaning products have fragrances and do not fully show all their ingredients in the label. You only find the word “fragrance” listed and you can’t know what cocktail of chemicals you are breathing or absorbing. One of the best ways to avoid this problem is by choosing products that are fragrance-free or not choosing products with the general legend that says “fragrance”. Additionally, here are more red flags for your cleaning products choice.
Are cleaning products toxic?
The majority of cleaning products are toxic because they contain endocrine disruptors, which cause our endocrine system to get confused and activate or block crucial functions for our survival. Consequently, the endocrine disruptors can cause infertility, cancer, malformations, diabetes, neurological diseases and more. Moreover, these affect the environment, the animals and eventually the endocrine disruptors come back to our body through the food chain.
Too many negative consequences, and it’s unfair coming from buying products that promise to clean your home and keep you healthy, when it can be quite the opposite, don’t you think?
These are my top recommendations on how to choose non-toxic cleaning products, being the #1 the best option.
#5: You can avoid buying toxic cleaning products by investigating their ingredients beforehand. It is quite challenging to know if a cleaning product contains toxic chemicals only by reading their listed ingredients. It is important to memorize top harmful chemicals so you can avoid them, but let’s be honest, it is impossible to learn all of them.
Luckily, you can find multiple websites and reliable sources, where you can verify if the product that you are buying is “safe”. Some organizations have done outstanding work by creating databases of toxic-free cleaning products and listing the ones that still use harmful chemicals. One of them is the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which offers a large database for personal care products and a guide for healthy cleaning. Moreover, there are apps with hundreds of products listed where you can look for a specific cleaning product to see if it is safe or not.
#4: Some brands are more transparent than others so you can look for cleaning products that are certified and safer for your use and for the environment. The certifications vary from country to country so it is complicated to suggest which ones you need to look for but it is very easy to find the top sustainable certifications in your country. In the US you can find the “Safer Choice” certification. Sadly, not every country has certifications.
One of our favorite American brands is Dropps, which offers cleaning products that are ethically made and they are very transparent about the ingredients they use. Their pods don’t contaminate and they offer free carbon neutral shipping. It has the Safer Choice certification which means they meet EPA’s standards. You can check out each one of their ingredients so you can make sure they use plant-based products that are dye-free, npe-free, phosphate-free, chlorine-free, and animal cruelty-free. If you are interested in trying out their products, you can get our special 15% discount code here.
# 3: Look for cleaning products in eco-friendly stores. Although the previous options are better than buying cleaning products when you’re not aware of their ingredients, there is still a major problem. Some of these cleaning products have substituted the harmful chemicals for other options, but that doesn’t mean they are better ones. These are innovations that haven’t been tested on humans for a long period of time, unlike the other chemicals that turned out to be harmful after years of research when they uncovered their effects in humans. You may read “product free of parabens”, but the quality of the new ingredient that substituted the use of parabens is unclear.
Additionally, most cleaning products found in the supermarket come in plastic bottles. And well… of course plastic bottles release toxic substances such as endocrine disruptors.
That is why I suggest buying natural products. Normally, eco friendly stores are more careful when they choose what products to sell or not. Additionally, it could be safer to consume products that are locally made because they can be fabricated with natural or zero preservatives, which are also endocrine disruptors.
Some small sustainable businesses are focusing on healthier ingredients and on offering eco friendly packaging. They may be part of a circular economy model where they distribute their product in glass bottles, which is easier to handle them if they are a local business. You can also look for stores that refill cleaning products such as detergent, laundry soap, dish soap and more.
# 2: It is crucial to only buy from companies that fully disclose their ingredients, so don’t forget to read the label and see if there are hidden ingredients within general categories, like: “fragrances”.
Moreover, brands that offer eco-friendly packaging normally are more conscious and offer chemical-free products. However, it is important to analyze if the product is greenwashing or not. Remember that not every green label or eco friendly package is really sustainable. You can read more about greenwashing here.
# 1: Do it yourself! There are many suggestions on DIY cleaning products. Water and soap is the perfect and actually, the most effective option. You can also use baking soda or vinegar as inexpensive household cleaners. Yes, being eco friendly isn’t as expensive as we thought it was. Less is more.
You can use vinegar to eliminate bad odors. Make sure not to buy vinegar that is derived from petroleum. The best type of vinegar for cleaning is white vinegar or distilled vinegar. Moreover, it is biodegradable so it is not only great for your health but also for the environment.
Expensive but Crucial Changes
Building materials: A great percentage of indoor air pollutants can be attributed to building materials. Therefore, if you are willing to make major changes to your house, you can dig a little bit deeper on what materials you can replace such as asbestos which is typically found in old constructions.
Paints: If you are redecorating you may want to consider mineral, plant pigments, or citrus paints. These do not contain heavy metals or VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) and consequently, are toxic-free. This is perfect for a nursery room and taking care of the baby from the very start.
Furniture: Plywood, medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and particleboard furniture are not toxic-free. They release toxic chemicals and can also become house dust.
Additionally, ovens, stoves, fireplaces and cooling and heating devices can be huge contributors to air pollutants. You can drastically reduce your exposure to harmful pollutants if you have the possibility to invest in cleaner options.
With all of these changes you are one step closer to creating a chemical free home! Avoiding toxic products can be overwhelming, but the good news is that there are great alternatives that we can choose from. Some sustainable products may be more expensive but by living sustainably I have learned that sometimes simpler things, like soap, is all we need.
Even if these changes take you some time, it is important to always keep in mind that you have what it takes to start building a safer home for you and the Earth.
Sources:
– Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): How to Avoid Hormone Disrupting Chemicals.
– Environmental Working Group (EWG)
– United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Facts about Formaldehyde, Toxic Candles, sources of indoor air pollution.
– Toxic Free Future: Toxic Chemicals In Your Shopping Cart
