Buy This, Not That … Bleach
Buy This, Not That is a quick, simple, common sense guide to help you choose healthier, greener products on your next shopping trip.
Buy This… Hydrogen Peroxide Bleach. Hydrogen peroxide, that staple of bathroom medicine cabinets everywhere, has the same disinfecting and cleaning properties as regular (chlorine) bleach. But hydrogen peroxide is much safer to use – both for you and the environment. You can use straight hydrogen peroxide as a bleach alternative. And since it’s designed to go on your skin anyway, there’s no worry about burning and no noxious fumes to inhale, since hydrogen peroxide is nearly odorless.
You can also buy non-chlorine bleach, which is made of hydrogen peroxide. Just treat it the same as regular bleach – be careful about skin exposure and inhalation. But since hydrogen peroxide-based bleach is not made with toxic chlorine, you won’t be exposing yourself to harmful chemicals that can cause minor health problems such as headaches and allergies, or something much worse.
Not That… Chlorine bleach. Chlorine bleach is harmful to the environment – belching out toxic residues that kill fish and wildlife and generally just pollute the planet. Remember, everything that you wash down the drain – whether in your laundry or through cleaning – ends up in the water system, and that includes chlorine remnants. And the use of chlorine results in the formation of dioxins, potential carcinogens not good for you or the planet.
Chlorine is harmful to you, too. You know that you don’t want bleach to touch your skin because it can burn. And inhaling chlorine bleach fumes can lead to some serious medical problems, either immediately or down the road. Cleaning with chlorine bleach releases those vapors into your indoor air, where the chlorine fumes will linger for days and months, even if you don’t smell them.
