Eco Friendly Laundry part 2: Bleaching and Boosters

This is the second in my series on Eco Friendly Laundry. You can find my first post here:

Eco Friendly Laundry part 1: Washing

As I mentioned last time, I've been making my own non toxic cleaners or buying earth friendly versions for years, but I've never managed to convert many others even though I've touted the benefits of how much better my products work than those old toxic standbys. So last time I started using  scare tactics.
Not my usual style, but, hey, I'm not making this stuff up! This week we continue on that frightening journey by talking about bleaches and laundry boosters.

So let's start with a few basic facts (which aren't necessarily all related, but you'll get the idea):

According to a 15 year study given at the Toronto Indoor Air Conference in 1990, women who work in the home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than those who work outside the home.

Indoor air quality is usually 25-100% worse than outdoor air quality. 

Many of the chemicals in your indoor air can build up in your body over time.

Nearly a quarter of all calls to poison control centers are about chlorine bleach.

Chlorine bleach has been linked to reproductive and immune disorders.

Chlorine bleach fumes make respiratory conditions such as asthma worse (no surprise there to anyone who's ever smelled bleach).

Chlorine bleach is corrosive. That's no surprise either, but it's not much good for your washer, your plumbing or the elastic in your undies. And it's definitely not a good idea for skin. I used to clean the educational building at our church which housed a day care center. The counters where they changed the babies' diapers by law had to be sprayed with bleach solution after every use. They were Formica and the surface was pitted and worn from the bleach and very hard to clean. Constant bleach use will make many surfaces more porous (so why do they put it in surface cleaners?).

Chlorine bleach is not a chemical that is normally found in nature. It is an unstable substance that mixes readily with other substances to form some pretty nasty chemical by products. 

We all know that chlorine bleach mixed with ammonia produces a highly toxic gas, but not many of us know that chlorine bleach mixed with anything acidic (vinegar, wine, etc) also produces toxic gas. If you've been bleaching the puddle the dog left on the tile to disinfect, it's really not a good thing.

Chlorine bleach mixed with some substances can form highly toxic dioxin, a carcinogenic chemical, which takes years to break down in the environment. From my research, it is unclear if this can happen in a household environment, but it can happen in the paper bleaching industry--a good reason to buy unbleached paper products.

Chlorine bleach mixed with certain organic materials can produce chloroform. Also, seems like this one can happen in the manufacturing of bleached paper and yet there are conflicting reports as to whether it can happen in the home.

Chlorine is used to make mustard gas. Some reports say that mixing it with dish detergent in the home can make a form of mustard gas.

and finally, the one that the bleach industry really doesn't want you to know about . . . .

Chlorine bleach causes many fabrics to turn yellow. 

Yeah, I'm not making that up.  Google it.

GASP!

So how are we supposed to keep our whites white and our colors bright? Well, die-hard environmentalists will tell you to hang your whites on a clothes line and let the sun bleach it while keeping your brights in the shade, but I know not everyone will do that, let's explore some alternatives.

Let's ignore the whole bleach issue at first and talk about just plain getting your clothes really clean. And therein lies the problem. Why not just use a really good laundry soap that gets your clothes clean and fresh instead of having to first treat for stains, then wash and bleach and soften and "perfume"? Good point, right? Well, in a perfect world that would work. In a perfect world your water will be nice and soft, you'd have the best washer on the market, your kids wouldn't play in the grass on their knees and no one in your family would spill or sweat, and all of your clothes would have the same fiber content and dyes would be stable, and . . . .  you get the picture. Laundry product makers just can't make any one product that works for all those variables. They really try, which is why the big commercial brands have crazy things like optical brighteners in them which fool the eye into thinking that your t-shirt is brighter and whiter than it really is. I'd personally rather have a t-shirt that is actually clean than one that just looks like it is. I'd rather have a t-shirt that smells nice simply because it lacks bad odors rather than one that smells nice because it has synthetic fragrance on it.

To get something really clean you first must consider the type of water you have. Is it soft or hard water? Most people have hard water. If you have hard water (and really even if you don't) you want to use a laundry booster. Laundry boosters condition your water so that your laundry soap just works so much better. Even if you have soft water laundry boosters are helpful in lifting stains and getting out smells.



Baking soda aka bicarbonate of soda can be found naturally although most of the stuff we buy is man made. Find it in the baking aisle of the grocery store. We all know it's great at removing odors and safe since you can even use it to brush your teeth. This is the mildest of the laundry boosters you can buy. It's alkaline, but mild enough to handle without gloves.

Borax is a naturally occurring mineral compound which has been mined and used by people for thousands of years. My family recently toured the ruins of borax mines in Death Valley California where they would haul the borax out with wagons hitched to a team of 20 mules--thus the brand name of "20 Mule Team Borax." Borax is more alkaline than baking soda and care should be taken to keep it off your skin and away from children. Because it's stronger it is also really good at killing germs, softening your water and removing stains. I use it in some of my stronger homemade cleaning solutions. Use according to package directions. Borax makes a great toilet bowl cleaner by the way.

Washing soda aka soda ash (not to be confused with washing powder) is also a naturally occurring mineral compound or it can be man made. It is a very alkaline compound which is so strong that it can also be used to strip wax off of floors and is great at getting out petroleum based stains. If you have a grease monkey in your family this might be the perfect booster for you. Once again, avoid getting it on your skin and keep it away from children. It can be found in the laundry aisle at most grocery stores and used according to package directions.

Before you rush out to buy a laundry booster, keep reading.

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But what about bleach? Well, we already know that chlorine bleach is not the answer so let's talk about oxygen bleach. I know, it sounds just plain silly to think that oxygen could clean anything. But some oxygen bleach is really using hydrogen peroxide to whiten. You know-it's the stuff they use to lighten hair and whiten teeth. OK, now it's making sense right? That's really very much a simplification of the explanation. You wouldn't want to pour liquid hydrogen peroxide on your colored clothing for instance. I'm no chemist (though I am married to one), so let's avoid the chemistry lesson and suffice it to say that most oxygen bleaches have been formulated to be color safe (check the label).

There are different types and brands of oxygen bleaches in both liquid and powder form. I like to keep things simple so I use a product that mixes a laundry booster like those mentioned above with hydrogen peroxide to make a great combination product. The one I use is Oxiclean. It's readily available and I can buy a 15 lb box of it at Costco which lasts me a good long time. You can also go to their website and print off coupons. Once again, it's a alkaline product and should be kept away from children.

How well does it work? Well, some of you know that I take TaeKwonDo. Our uniforms are white and made of a fabric that is very hard to get stains out of once it gets dirty. TaeKwonDo is not exactly a clean sport. We do wrestling and grappling moves on a not too clean floor, we do outdoor demonstrations and we sweat a lot. When the TaeKwonDo Master hands out uniforms he lets everyone know to not use chlorine bleach on them because bleach will cause them to disintegrate rapidly. The result of that is that most of the students run around in dingy grey uniforms. I use Oxiclean on mine and on my son's and ours stay nice and white. The difference is very noticeable.

So, now you have options. You can use a booster and a oxygen bleach or a combination product depending on your needs.

Please note that certain delicate fabrics such as some silks and wools should be washed with only the mildest of laundry soaps and these stronger additives should not be used on them.

Next time we'll delve into the wild and wacky work of stain removal.

Sue

Gift Bags / Pillow Cases ?

I love items that have multiple uses and are eco-friendly. I grew up in house where gift wrap was often made from a cereal box and the comics section of the newspaper. For years I have been using inexpensive fabrics to make my own re-usable gift bags. My family loves my gift bags too because they make it so fast and easy to wrap gifts and wrapping odd shaped items is no problem.


My son, Caleb had his 8th birthday party the other day. He picked fabric from my stash of oriental print cotton fabrics that I purchased when we lived in South Korea. I whipped up these travel size pillow cases that double as goodie bags for his party.


Each child took one of these home filled with some toys and goodies and they can use them again as gift bags or put a travel sized pillow inside for car trips or sleepovers. When I make bags that do not double as pillow cases, I sew satin ribbon right into the seam to use to tie the bag closed and sometimes also sew gussets into the bottom corners so the bag has a flat bottom.


These also worked well for when the kids broke open the pinatas my son made. There was plenty of room in the bags that the kids could stuff their candy treasures inside.


Above: These are the pinatas that my son made for his party. The small one is a Malayan tapir (Caleb's favorite animal). The spider was fun as a pinata as it lost an eye or a leg with every good whack, which the kids liked. It looked cool hanging from its string upside down.

Kitchen Tip: Save time and money!

In our home we have a lot of stir frys since it's a great, quick way to feed the family a little protein and several servings of vegetables. Since my husband likes to eat low-carb, he can have the stir fry and the rest of us add rice or noodles. The money saving part comes in by buying large family packs of chicken or inexpensive cuts of lean beef at the supermarket or warehouse store and using small amounts of meat and a lot of vegetables in each stir fry. So, what do I do with those large packages and how does this save time?

I pop the whole package, as is, into the freezer for an hour or two to firm it up for cutting into very thin slices. When it is partially frozen, it cuts very easily. I rinse the meat and then slice the entire package and put the slices into a large bowl. I then add all the ingredients that I would normally add for a stir fry marinade. For a couple of our favorite recipes, look below.

Leave just enough in the bowl to use for that night's dinner. Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator to marinate for an hour or more. The rest gets divided up into quart size freezer storage bags in portions large enough for your family. Seal the bags carefully pressing out all the air and pat the bags flat so they freeze quickly. Freeze them right away. The meat will marinate as it thaws when you are ready to use it for a quick, healthy family meal. On a busy night, half the work of meal prep will already be done for you and you save time in general by prepping everything for several meals all at the same time.

Pictured above:  Citrus Chicken Stir Fry with yellow summer squash, white onion "petals" and delicate enoki mushrooms.

CITRUS CHICKEN STIR FRY MARINADE

adjust the amount of each ingredient according to the size of the batch and your family's taste

fresh orange juice

low sodium soy sauce

fresh ginger, minced

green onions, sliced

pepper, optional

small amount of fresh orange or lemon zest (for more citrus flavor)

SAVORY BEEF STIR FRY MARINADE

adjust the amount of each ingredient according to the size of the batch and your family's taste

low sodium soy sauce

small amount of rice vinegar

oyster sauce

fresh garlic, minced or sliced very thin

fresh ginger, minced

green onions, sliced

drizzle of roasted sesame oil

pepper, optional

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To Prepare Stir Fry:

Thinly slice vegetables of your choice and have them ready to add to the stir fry.

Heat a wok or large frying pan and quickly saute the marinated meat in a small amount of peanut or canola oil. Add vegetables one by one according to how long they will take to cook--for instance, the delicate, straw like, enoki mushrooms in the stir fry pictured above were added just before the heat was turned off. Do not overcook the vegetables. This can take some practice, but it always tastes good anyway. If you want to thicken the sauce with cornstarch mixed with water, do this at the end. Optional:  top with chopped peanuts, green onions or pepper flakes.

Serve with rice or noodles if you like. For a nutrition boost I usually serve it with fragrant brown basmati rice, brown jasmine rice or very quick cooking buckwheat soba noodles if I forgot to start the rice 40 minutes early (brown rice takes longer than white rice to cook).

Enjoy,  Sue