I happened to spot simple green all purpose cleaner at Sam's. At first glance it seems great! It claims to be non toxic and biodegradable. OK, but why aren't the ingredients listed? I didn't buy it as I wanted to do rsearch first. We are going to begin humanure composting in the near future, so I am now trying to find cleaning products to make our gray water safe. I went to www.simplegreen.com and looked at their Q&A. They don't have to list their ingredients because it is non toxic. But it says not to put it down the storm drain although it is sewer safe. It also says that it is synthetic yet organic but not in the sense of organic food but that it contains carbon. It says it is safe for plants and will be consumed by the microrganisms in the soil. It still seems to me that it would contaminate the groundwater. They also state that their competitors using citric in their cleaners are using a suspected carcinogen. What a bunch of "doublespeak"! What commercial cleaners do you use or suggest that would make safe graywater? I already do some cleaning with baking soda and vinegar but what about when you want too clean something that you would normally use bleach or the big guns to clean? I just can't believe what these companies pull on consumers and get away with!

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), June 01, 2001

Answers

Response to Simple green and similar cleansers?

Denise,I'm glad you posted this.I have severe(or did have at one time) sensitivities to petroleum products.I was very cautious about what I used for everything,for example vaseline on my lips would make my heart race to 240 beats a minute.I bought some Murphy"s oil Soap,which claims to be 100% all vegetable pure,blah,blah ,blah I was washing the wood floors with it(putting my bare hands in it) and left it in the sink next to our pet ferret.I passed out and the ferret died.Ya I know sounds like a Monty Python movie!Anyway we called poison control they confirmed it contains petroleum distillates,well they come from the ground so I guess that's natural!!And the 100% vegetables...well all the beef that IS IN a BIG mac is 100% beef,they just don't mention what else is in there.I learned a very big lesson....teri

-- teri (mrs_smurf2000@yahoo.ca), June 01, 2001.

Response to Simple green and similar cleansers?

Denise, what do you want to use bleach FOR? I really don't know of anything that has better BLEACHING action than chlorine bleach. However, if it's for disinfecting, IMO, bleach is not that effective. To disinfect, the item must already be clean of any organic material before chlorine bleach will work.

For general disinfection, I use GSE (grapefruit seed extract) or vinegar. Read this, which I copied from a different BB:

From Dollar Stretcher <> Vinegar Kills Bacteria, Mold, and Germs by Annie Berthold-Bond

Q: I heard that vinegar is a disinfectant. Is this true? Maria, MI

A: Vinegar is a mainstay of the old folk recipes for cleaning, and with good reason. Vinegar kills bacteria, mold, and germs. Heinz company spokesperson Michael Mullen references numerous studies that show that a straight 5 percent solution of vinegar such as you can buy in the supermarket kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold and 80 percent of viruses. He noted that Heinz can't claim on their packaging that vinegar is a disinfectant because the company has not registered it as a pesticide with the Environmental Protection Agency. However, it seems to be common knowledge in the industry that vinegar is powerfully antibacterial. Even the CBS news show "48 Hours" had a special last December with Heloise reporting on tests from The Good Housekeeping Institute.

Keep a clean spray bottle filled with straight 5 percent vinegar in your kitchen near your cutting board and in your bathroom, and use them for cleaning. I often spray the vinegar on our cutting board before going to bed at night, and don't even rinse, but let it set overnight. The smell of vinegar dissipates within a few hours. Straight vinegar is also great for cleaning the toilet rim. Just spray it on and wipe off. <>

A number of years ago, I had a sick bird (psittacosis, also infectious to humans, and very infectious to other birds). In that instance, I got Wavicide, one of the only things KNOWN to kill this particular bacteria. I was extremely careful to use it only as directed and no more than necessary, and rinse everything very, very thoroughly.

Also, with so much these days that is plastic, many people forget or never knew that you can disinfect things with boiling water (as long as they won't melt or get burned by the water).

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), June 01, 2001.

Response to Simple green and similar cleansers?

Hi. Without trying to sound like an endorsement for a particular company have you tried using cleaning products that use "tea tree oil" as the active ingredient? Very effective, very safe to use.

http://www.anatura lbiz.com/greenchoices.html

-- Loretta Van Riet (mwerks3@yahoo.com), June 01, 2001.

Response to Simple green and similar cleansers?

I have used Vinegar on sunburn: straight from the bottle. One may smell like a salad for a time, but it surely takes the sting away. As always, best to test a small patch of skin first for any unknown allergic reaction.

-- ginger (yv501@aol.com), June 01, 2001.

Denise where did you get your information about simple green having synthetics in it.

-- Stanley Wells (swells44@yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.