Environmentally friendly lifestyle choices we can make with the products we choose to use daily

Image by anncapictures from Pixabay

Please stop using that disposable plastic toothbrush and use environmentally less burdensome alternate products

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Last week, I started talking about sustainability, in terms of lifestyle changes that one can make to cause least damage to the environment. There I discussed the need to stop using the plastic disposable toothbrush and substitute it with bamboo toothbrush.

However, I would also add that there are other options that can be great substitutes for environmentally damaging disposable plastic toothbrushes, those options can be checked out in the video inside this article here.

Traditionally, humankind in India used neem chew sticks instead of a toothbrush, that’s a great alternative too. One can also use a permanent plastic toothbrush with disposable head with bristles which can be replaced with a head with new bristles.

Anyway… THis article is through discussing toothbrushes, but please think of using such products to clean your teeth that are not environmentally hazardous like disposable plastic toothbrushes please, especially when the reference link I have provided, comprehensively discusses more environmentally sustainable alternative products you can use to clean your teeth.

The chemical cleaners we use to clean daily pollute lakes and rivers of our City

Image by Jose Antonio Alba from Pixabay

Now, I did not know that the products we use to clean our clothes and house damage rivers indirectly and there are environmentally friendly alternatives for that too.

First, let’s realise how such products pollute our local water bodies and aquatic ecosystems.

Image by tookapic from Pixabay

The common products that are advertised and easily available in the market as cleaning agents contain chemicals, bleaching agents and acids that remove stains, dirt and kill germs.

However, these very ingredients that are there in our cloth washing liquids, floor, toilet and surface cleaners flow into the drains and that drain water eventually flows and joins up with ponds then connects with lakes and rivers.

One must understand that these elements are interconnected. Generally, it is expected that the drain water is treated with a water treatment system then released and let to flow into the groundwater table where it will join up with other water bodies.

However, in places like India and many places this drain water of households are not treated and let to flow about, very unhygienic.

Image by M. Maggs from Pixabay

Anyway, this drain water will contain chemicals that we humans used to clean clothes, floor, bathroom etc and pollute water bodies. Eventually these chemicals kill aquatic life like fishes and other creatures residing in the lake and then a place that attracts beauty and birds would be dead with dirty, dried up lake beds filled with weeds.

Therefore, it is very pertinent for us to think of eco friendly substitutes for the various chemical cleaning agents we use and in today’s world there are lots of such alternate products.

Natural fabric cleaning liquids that clean up fabrics gently without polluting water bodies

In the market I found these fabric washing liquids which mention that they are eco-friendly as they are free from harsh chemicals, artificial dyes, colours etc.

Their ingredients are derived from soapnut, lemon and coconut.

Chemical fabric washers, besides polluting water bodies, damage fabrics and irritate skin, where as these Natural Fabric washes are biodegradable, non-polluting, nice to skin, and gentle to fabrics keeping them soft.

Another point, I would like to add is that generally these chemical based cloth washing agents need more water to clean, as they are very frothy, but with natural fabric cleaners less water is needed to clean off the soap from clothes.

In my next article I will delve with cleaning substitute liquids to clean toilets, house floors etc.