What’s lurking in your reusable bag?
Now that reusable shopping bags are all the rage (finally) I thought a quick blurb about their not so great side may be useful. While good for the environment by eliminating plastic bags from the landfill and the waste of energy to produce them (we won’t discuss issues like the fabrics they are made from), they can be hazardous to your health!
I try to wash mine every week or so. The reason I started doing this is that sometimes they double as a diaper bag and who knows what gets tossed into them. I didn’t think that dirty diaper and supper went together very well.
I was just reading the October issue of Canadian Living, and low and behold, a column written by Toni Petter, titled “Keep ‘em Clean”. What she said was that a recent study found high levels of bacteria, yeast and mould in reusable bags, which could lead to food poisoning.
Here are tips from Health Canada to help you keep your bags and bins “gross”-free:
- Hand wash cloth bags frequently with hot, soapy water, especially after bringing home fresh produce and meat in them. (I machine wash mine and air dry them and they have been fine thus far)
- Wipe out plastic bins with hot water and a natural cleaner or biodegradable soap
- Think of your reusable bags and bins as food preparation surfaces [I thought this was a good point]. Keep raw or frozen meat and fish in separate bags from produce.
- If you’ve used your bags or bins for nonfood items [like me], wash thoroughly before using for groceries.
Thanks Canadian Living and Health Canada for thinking of these things! …and for adding another thing to do on my chore list 
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President’s Choice Eco Green Products Aren’t So Green
Best said by Kermit the Frog, “It aint easy being green.” What does being green actually mean? Does it also mean good for you? natural? grown sustainably? traded fairly? socially responsible? pesticide free? not packaged in plastic? reducing waste?
It’s no secret that many companies have jumped on the green bandwagon. Every company out there has to have their piece of this market pie. Why not when every mother out there wants to trustingly take a big, huge bite? STOOOOP!!!! Don’t do it!
I hate to be doubting the intentions of every company out there but I feel as a mother it is my job. This is my family I am protecting after all.
I shop at Extra Foods (Canadian Superstore) most of the time. It is down the street from us so I like to walk there. I was thrilled when their President’s Choice brand introduced a new Eco Green line of products. Progress. Or at least I thought so.
I was looking for laundry detergent. Ordinarily I buy some from our wholesaler where we buy some of our diapers for Better Baby Bums, but I ran out in the midst of doing laundry left from our family vacation, all 7 loads of it. I was desperate. I picked up the PC Eco stuff and checked out the label. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. In my mind there wasn’t much green about it. Laden with chemicals that I wouldn’t even wash my dog’s bed with. What made it green according to them, you ask? The fact that it is highly concentrated so you use less and the packaging is smaller. Oh yeah, and you could use cold water. Are you kidding me?
While I praise Canada for finally implementing an excellent Organic Certification Program in June this year, why can’t they have something similar for cleaning and personal care products? Not everyone reads labels like I do. Nor do they have the knowledge to know what to look for. President’s Choice, in this case, it a trusted brand in these parts so why doubt them?
I know I’ve blogged about this a few times, but PLEASE read labels on anything that is supposedly a “green” or “natural” product. These terms are too often loosely thrown around. They don’t mean anything anymore. They quite obviously mean different things to different people. For me, “green” means good for the planet, good for my family. Thumbs down to President’s Choice. Shame on you Superstore for deceiving your customers who are trying to make healthy choices for their families. While your baby steps toward being a “green” company may be good enough for you (look at you patting yourselves on the back), they are NOT good enough for me. PS- there is no way that Chlorine Bleach can be Eco-Friendly. Who the heck is advising you people?
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Oeko-Tex Standard 100- safe fabrics
While I was shopping at Jysk today for Duvet Covers for my girls, a label I hadn’t seen b
efore caught my eye. It said, “Confidence in Textiles- Tested for harmful substances”. On a whim, and skeptical as always, I bought 2 duvets for my girls that sported this label. When I got home, I googled the label and up popped this website http://www.oeko-tex.com/OekoTex100_PUBLIC/index.asp?cls=02
Since 1992 this association has been existence, testing for harmful substances according to their standard, which is that the textile must not pose no risk whatsoever to health.
The criteria of the association provides uniform, scientifically founded evaluation standard for the human ecological safety of textiles. I found this to be particularly comforting given the issues surrounding the safety of products manufactured overseas.
The site lists all of the chemcials it tests for and the standards for different products. It also has a searchable database where you can look up sources of supply for textiles with this label. You can search for particular stores, items (baby wear, bedding etc), and brand names. I had some success with the database, however it wasn’t functioning quite right for me. I sent them an email about it.
Kudos to Jysk for carrying products with this label. It is always nice to have a store look out for your family’s best interest.
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What is in laundry stain removers?
In light of us now carrying a new natural, biodegradable laundry stain remover, I thought I should let you know why we searched high and low for this alternative.
Many conventional laundry stain removers contain benzene, toluene and xylene, all of which are neurotoxins. In addition to these, one can also find formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen and chlorine, a sensitizer. Given that stain removers are an important part of the “laundry arsenal” no parent should be without one. The question is which one.
The trouble with laundry stain removers and detergents is that they are not required by law to list the ingredients on the packaging. This is because detergent companies have the right to protect their “secret formulation”. I usually follow the rule, if they don’t list the ingredients, I don’t buy it.
I the protection of these “formulations” puzzling since the government goes out of its way to protect us when it comes to food products (ingredients must be listed). Wouldn’t constant exposure to toxic chemicals on our clothes be equally concerning?
I found a great site put out by the Environmental Health Association of Nova Scotia, A Guide to Less Toxic Products. In addition to listing the concerning toxins found in various household products, they also have recipes for home made products that can do the job just as well, and as I’ve found in some cases, even better. Check it out here.
If you don’t have time to make it yourself, then be sure to give our new natural and biodegradable laundry stain remover, Bunch Farmers All Natural Stain Remover. For $3.99 it is a great deal and so far it has worked well on blueberry, grass, horse manure (don’t ask), marker, and paint (also don’t ask) stains. My kids are busy, what can I say?!
Remember, just because they sell it and it works, doesn’t mean it’s good for you!
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Go Graywater
I have recently started making another step to making our household more environmentally savvy, using graywater. What is graywater? Graywater is the wastewater that comes from our baths, showers, dishwashing and laundering. It turns out that all the water we are sending down the drain, is actually quite useful.
If you are using natural, biodegradable soaps for washing, you can use what would ordinarily be wastewater, for watering your garden. It turns out that most natural soaps actually contain minerals that are beneficial to plants such as phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen. It is important to note that certain plants can be very sensitive to soaps but most are ok. In fact, these soaps can help to keep plant-damaging insects at bay such as aphids.
I have known about graywater for a long time. I just never integrated its use into our household. I owe it all to my dear friend Lisa who took my baby’s bathtub out to our yard and watered my newly planted cherry tree with the finished bathwater. Strangely, it makes me feel good to take the little bathtub out to my garden and water from it. A small step to lessening our footprint on the Earth, but a step nonetheless.
All of this got me thinking about other ways to easily use graywater in our home. There are a couple of great summer ideas that even your kids can get involved in and learn a little about graywater themselves.
1) Don’t dump out the kiddie pool. Instead of just dumping the water out of the pool at the end of the day to be refilled the next day, get your watering can and fill it from the pool to water your garden. My twins love helping with this as they have their own mini watering cans.
2)Don’t dump the infant tub down the drain. As I mentioned above, use this water for your garden or a tree.
3) Have a bath outside. My girls love having a bath outside in the summer. Use a kiddie pool, or even a large rubbermaid container and then water with the leftovers.
Share your graywater ideas with us. Post your ideas and you will be entered to win our favourite natural bathtime must haves, DermaMed Bubble Bath and a DermaMed Shampoo. You have until July 15th to post your ideas. Please give us your email address so we can contact you if you win, or check back on this entry on the 16th to see if you are the winner and contact us.
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