Got cleaning-related questions? Feel free to question or comment below. E-mail us at info@optionsproducts.com if you would like to become a regular contributor.
green cleaning solutions, safety and science
Got cleaning-related questions? Feel free to question or comment below. E-mail us at info@optionsproducts.com if you would like to become a regular contributor.
PROTECTIVE GEAR
Question: Do I need to wear gloves when working with your concentrated products?
Answer: Gloves can be uncomfortable, especially in hot weather, but plant-based ingredients are not absolutely harmless. Orange oil, for example, can dry your hands over time. For cleaning professionals, gloves can also help prevent or at least reduce the severity of cuts and other surface cleaning related injuries.
CLEANING MARBLE
Question: Can your Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaner be used on marble?
Answer: Marble stone is porous and easily stained if not sealed properly. Marble is etched by acids. Staining and etching are two different processes. Sealing usually prevents stains but not etching which is what happens when acids react with the marble. An acid is any liquid that has a pH of less than 7.0. Lemon oil, fruit juices, vinegar, soda, rainwater, milk, wine and coffee all have a pH less than 7. optionsforlife Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaner has a pH of 4.5. So, while you may safely clean treated marble with our Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaner in order to remove food spills and grease, it is acidic and it should be rinsed and wiped dry.
You may safely clean most treated marble surfaces with our Neutral Floor Cleaner or our Multi-surface Cleaner diluted 1/2 ounce of concentrate to a gallon of water. For fine, decorative marble, occasionally wash with lukewarm water and wipe dry with a clean cloth. Once or twice a year, wash with a mild detergent solution (like our Hand Soap), rinse and wipe dry.
CLEANING MOLD
Question: I have not found a ‘green’ or non-toxic cleaning product that really cleans mold. Should I use chlorine bleach?
Answer: Mold on very hard (non-porous) surfaces can be cleaned off with our Tub and Tile Cleaner, but mold that has penetrated porous surfaces such as grout, wood floors and dry walls, for example, can’t be cleaned by any product we are aware of, not even chlorine bleach. Firstly, chlorine bleach isn’t a cleaning agent so it doesn’t actually clean anything, but it will kill mold on hard surfaces. Chlorine bleach, however, won’t kill the mold that has penetrated a porous surface. In fact, because chlorine bleach is mostly water, the water that penetrates the surface can actually feed the mold. If you choose to use chlorine bleach, ventilate the area and exhaust the air to the outdoors. Never mix chlorine bleach with other cleaning solutions or detergents that contain ammonia because toxic fumes could be produced. In most cases, even when it appears that you have eliminated the mold with bleach, a background level of mold spores will remain. These spores will not grow, however, if the moisture problem that caused the mold has been resolved. Dead mold may still cause allergic reactions in some people, so it is not enough to simply kill the mold, it must also be removed.
HAND SANITIZERS
Question: Do you carry a hand sanitizer?
No, but we are working on one. In the meantime, you should know the following about commonly available instant hand sanitizers. Contents typically include the active ingredient ethyl alcohol and numerous inactive ingredients (such as methylparaben and diazolidinyl ureon) on the “High Hazard” list in the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. In one national brand, 62 percent of it is comprised of alcohol which not only dries your skin over time but is flammable!
Over the past several weeks I have noticed the Peroxide cleaner seems to leave a gritty residue on the surfaces of counter tops such as granite, marble etc. Is this normal?
CLEANING WITH PEROXIDE
Lots of people use our Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaner with Peroxide for just about everything. However, I don’t recommend regular cleaning of marble or other stone surfaces with any Hydrogen Peroxide cleaner. Hydrogen Peroxide is commonly used on marble and granite countertops for stain removal but less for cleaning unless the surface is regularly exposed to protein drippings from meats and fish. Even then, germs and bacteria don’t grow that well on really hard surfaces such as granite and marble. You would be using the Peroxide cleaner to kill the immediate odors.
All Peroxide cleaners are on the acidic side and can wear down marble or granite sealers over time. That may be the grittiness that you’re feeling. Most granite will not be harmed by acidic cleaners, but the acidic cleaners may dull them over time.
Polished granite, for example, has a very hard surface, somewhat like glass or stainless steel, so it doesn’t take a lot to clean it. I use our Multi-surface neutral pH cleaner for my marble counter tops.
Could you speak to the differences between “Plant-based” and “Plant-derived” ingredients?
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
The terms plant-based and plant-derived mean the same thing. Whatever ingredient is being qualified by either term comes from one or more plants, typically corn, orange or coconut. More often than not the entity using either term mainly wants the consumer to know that the ingredient does not come from petroleum (i.e., petroleum-derived or petroleum-based).
Could you clarify the primary action, common name if applicable, and most general (layman) source of the following ingredients?
Linear Alcohol Ethoxylate-
Sodium Gluconate-
Sodium Carbonate-
Hydrogen Peroxide-
Urea Monohydrochloride-
Sodium Lactate-
Thank you!
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
Alcohol Ethoxyate is a surfactant in a cleaning product and a primary cleaning agent. Surfactants make water wetter, wetter (you might think of it as thinner) water combined with mechanical energy (e.g., wiping or scrubbing) is more efficient at getting under and lifting up dirt. AE is typically derived from coconut, corn and/or palm oil.
Before we go further, by “lab created” I am going to assume you mean synthetic. There is no difference between a synthetic chemical substance and the processed [from plants or petroleum] chemical substance it replicates. When you break chemicals down, you end up with atoms. There are only 118 atoms that we are aware of and play [in a lab] with. That’s it. If anything, a synthetic chemical is purer than a processed chemical, particularly when it comes to being, for example, allergen free.
Sodium Gluconate is the “sodium salt of gluconic acid, produced by the fermentation of glucose (sugar).” In a cleaning product it is a great metal cleaning agent.
Sodium Carbonate (a.k.a. washing soda) is a sodium salt of carbonic acid (which, by the way can be found in your blood). Sodium Carbonate in a cleaning product acts as a water softener. A water softener removes the mineral ions that cause water to be “hard.” In hard water, soaps and detergent have a ‘hard’ time dissolving, making them less efficient at cleaning.
I need to break off right now. but I will be back later to answer the rest of your question.
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
What is hydrogen peroxide?
Answer: Technically, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a weak acid. But it also has strong oxidizing properties and is therefore a powerful bleaching agent. Hydrogen peroxide is seen as an environmentally benign alternative to chlorine-based bleaches. The hydrogen peroxide we use in our Kitchen and Bathroom cleaner is the same as bought at the drugstore in a 3% solution for use to disinfect scrapes and cuts, except that we use a stronger concentration or percentage.
In cleaning applications, it is a good protein stain remover.
What is urea monohydrochloride?
Answer: Technically, this one is complicated. You have hydrochlorides (or salts) made from the reaction of hydrochloric acid (also called muriatic acid) with an organic base like amines. Amines are derivatives of ammonia. Urea is a common waste product (the breakdown of proteins) in humans. Urea or carbamide is an organic compound. Together, for the purpose of cleaning, you end up with a mild salt-based solution with acidic properties that is safer to clean with than conventional tub, tile and bowl cleaners that contain phosphoric acid.
What is Sodium Lactate?
Answer: Sodium lactate is a sodium salt produced by neutralizing lactic acid. Lactic acid is produced by fermentation of a sugar source. Sodium lactate serves as an antimicrobal agent, increasing the shelf life of plant-derived surfactant cleaners. In emollient shampoos, sodium lactate helps distribute the oils used, in part, to relieve itchy skin.
I have found linear alcohol ethoxylate listed as both an adjuvant (mixing agent?) and a surfactant. And, I have been unable to find (layman) explanation of the difference between linear (narrow?) and non-linear(?) alcohols. Further explanation of the differences and benefits would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
Linear refers to the arrangement of atoms in a molecule. Linear are straight-chains, non-linear are branched-chains. The nature of the molecule chain effects the properties (like the viscosity) of a chemical and its ability to interact with other chemicals. For the purposes of a green product, linear alcohol ethoxylates are preferred in part because they biodegrade in the environment better.
A competitor, distributing W*wGr**n products, was handing out fliers at a recent show revealing the hazardous ingredients contained in commonly available national brand cleaning products. They had the following to say about Alcohol Ethoxylate: “Toxicity to humans, including carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity and acute toxicity. Toxic to aquatic organisms.” Are these statements accurate?
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
Well, first of all, if you copied the WG statement correctly, “Toxicity to humans, including carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity and acute toxicity” is not a statement or even a sentence. It does not say that Alcohol Ethoxylates (AE) is toxic to humans. It’s more like the title of an article. And, we are supposed to read further to find out whether or not AE is toxic to humans.
While WG apparently means to imply that AE is toxic to humans, one reason why WG does not actually say that AE is toxic to humans may be because the two largest and most respected independent, not-for-profit, green product/ingredient certification organizations in North America (Green Seal, US and EcoLogo, Canada) have both certified that green cleaning products containing AE are non-toxic to humans.
As you are aware, the US government has not yet cracked down on the claims made by green and non-green product manufacturers and, therefore, many of these manufactures can and pretty much do say anything they please. This is one reason why independent certification of claims is so important. The last time I checked, WG company’s products or claims are not certified by anybody.
But lets, as we normally do, look a little closer at the chemical group Alcohol Ethoxylates, because, to be fair to WG, there is controversy surrounding this surfactant (cleaning/wetting agent).
First to put AE in perspective, there are seven major types of non-ionic surfactants, Alcohol Ethoxylates (AE) and Alkyl Phenol Ethoxylates (APE) represent the majority of the market. Linear Alcohol Ethoxylates (the kind we use and are concerned with here) are ethoxylated straight chain alcohols which may be derived from coco or palm based oils.
Alkyl Phenol Ethoxylates (APE) is not an ingredient approved by Green Seal or EcoLogo.
Green Seal was originally also concerned about Ethoxylated Alcohols due to their inherent contamination with 1,4-dioxane, a known carcinogen. [So 1,4-dioxane is the real culprit, here.]
However, Ethoxylated Alcohols are not recognized as carcinogens by IARC, NTP and EPA, because at most, they contain 1,4-dioxane at extremely low levels and these agencies have fond — at these low levels – “[EA] has not been shown to be carcinogenic in animal studies (Polloth 2005).”
Now you may ask, “who or what is IARC, NTP and EPA?”
Well, IARC is The International Agency for Research on Cancer and is part of the World Health Organization. IARC’s mission is to coordinate and conduct research on the causes of human cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and to develop scientific strategies for cancer prevention and control. The Agency is involved in both epidemiological and laboratory research and disseminates scientific information through publications, meetings, courses, and fellowships.
So, you might safely assume that IARC would be fairly objective and know what they are doing.
NTP is the National Toxicology Program and is part of the US Dept of Health and Human Services. NTP is an interagency program whose mission is to evaluate agents of public health concern by developing and applying tools of modern toxicology and molecular biology. The program maintains an objective, science-based approach in dealing with critical issues in toxicology and is committed to using the best science available to prioritize, design, conduct, and interpret its studies. To that end, the NTP is continually evolving to remain at the cutting edge of scientific research and to develop and apply new technologies.
The EPA, well you probably know that’s the US Environmental Protection Agency.
These are a few of the criteria that products have to meet in order to get Green Seal Certification:
5.3. Carcinogens, Mutagens, and Reproductive Toxins. The undiluted product shall not contain any ingredients or components that are carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins. The product shall not contain any ingredients known to produce or release carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins.
5.7 Prohibited Ingredients. The undiluted product shall not contain the following ingredients :
• Heavy metals including, lead, hexavalent chromium, or selenium; either in the elemental form or compounds
• 2-butoxyethanol
• Alkyl phenol ethoxylates
• Phthalates
5.1 Acute Toxicity. The undiluted product shall not be toxic to humans.
5.11 Toxicity to Aquatic Life. The product as used shall not be toxic to
aquatic life.
Can I use your Kitchen and Bathroom cleaner on stainless steel? Are there risks involved with potential cross-contamination of hydrogen peroxide and quarternary ammonium solutions (such as BarMaid Sani-Maid)? I’ve read some incomplete descriptions of how Clorox should not be mixed with stainless steel… and hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidizer like Clorox, so what’s the difference?
CLEANING STAINLESS STEEL
The best product of ours for Stainless Steel is our Glass and Window Cleaner. Most glass cleaners work well on stainless steel largely because both surfaces (glass and stainless steel) are extremely hard and not much surfactant or cleaning agent is required to clean hard, smooth surfaces. You shouldn’t use a product with chlorine in it to clean stainless steel … chlorine will damage stainless steel. Ammonia is a common ingredient in glass and stainless steel cleaners (not ours) and is effective at cleaning stainless steel. Ammonia, however, can interact adversely with other common household cleaners, particularly those containing chlorine. Our Glass Cleaner and Peroxide Cleaner do not interact adversely with other common household cleaners.
If you are asking about using our Peroxide Cleaner (a.k.a., Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaner) on stainless steel food preparation surfaces in the Kitchen, yes you may. Our Peroxide Cleaner works well on protein stains, destroys odor-causing germs and bacteria and is safe to use around food. Just rinse the surface after cleaning with cold water. Our Peroxide cleaners will not interact adversely with other common household cleaners.
Stainless Steel is a strange beast. Some appliances come up nicely using OFL glass cleaner, others are unaffected and need a different product. I use either OFL glass cleaner or Method SS cleaner, usually one or the other will do the job. I have clients who mandate the use of their own cleaners, in particular Weiman SS cleaner, which seem to do a superior job though lacking the green credentials of the others. What is the chemistry of Stainless Steel cleaners and why does the Weiman product seem to be more effective?
CLEANING STAINLESS STEEL
Most glass cleaners, including ours, are good at cleaning stainless steel because the surfaces (glass and stainless steel) are smooth and very hard. Surfaces such as these do not require a lot of soap or other cleaning agents to be wiped cleaned. The difference between our Glass Cleaner and the others you mentioned, particularly Weiman, is that our Glass Cleaner is a cleaner only. It is not a polisher as well and, therefore, does not leave a residue designed to resist fingerprints or dust. Call us commercial purists if you will, but we are generally against leaving residues of any kind for any purpose. One of the ironies of green (or plant-derived versus petroleum-derived) cleaners is that a build up of organically derived cleaning chemical residue under certain conditions may breed bacteria.
Why should cleaning products be protected from freezing? Apart from expansion of the frozen liquid rupturing the container is there an adverse effect on the efficacy of the solution caused by freezing?
PRODUCT INGREDIENTS
When most cleaning chemicals freeze, the molecular bonds of some ingredients may break, leaving the constituent parts un-effective as cleaning agents.
CLEANING WOOD FLOORS
We recently received the following questions in house from Jackie in Atlanta. I thought the questions and answers were worth posting for others to benefit from.
Question: The majority of the floors in Atlanta are poly coated/pre-finished or engineered. We rarely see a wood floor that is “waxed”. We have been using steam mops and the clients really like them. We’ve been filling them with a white vinegar (30%) & water (70%) solution. It is cleaning, but leaving the floors dull. Can we use the diluted form of optionsforlife Multi-surface Cleaner for floors in the steam mop?
Answer: I would not recommend using white vinegar to
clean poly-finished wood floors. When you think about it, you are
really cleaning the poly coating, not the actual wood floor. Vinegar
is acidic and over time will scratch or etch the poly coating. This
etching will compromise the original poly coating shine. It is much safer to use our Neutral pH Floor Cleaner. You can make the same cleaner by using our Multi-surface Cleaner Concentrate. Just mix 1/2 ounce of concentrate with one gallon of water. And, the solution can be used in your steam mop.
Question: Is there anything we can “add” to increase the shine [of a poly-coated floor]?
Answer: Any cleaning product that claims to “put the shine back” into your poly coated floor isn’t really ‘restoring’ the shine to the
poly finish. They usually just leave an oil or wax residue and it’s this residue that shines for a while until it is worn down. We are generally not in favor of products that leave residues (unless it is a real floor seal and finish designed to put a protective wax coating on natural wood). Oily residues trap dirt and make cleaning and stripping (should you decide to refinish your poly coating) harder. Plus, they lose their shine pretty quickly, forcing you to repeat the process frequently. Any neutral pH cleaner that cleans well will remove the dirt and grime to reveal the the original poly shine as long as the poly coating is in good condition (i.e., it is still shiny).
Concern: Jackie, I am concerned about your use of steam mops. You want to use as little water as possible when cleaning factory finished wood floors. Water forced and trapped between the floor boards will swell the boards over time — essentially ruining the floor. Spraying mop heads with a neutral pH cleaner and mopping the floors is more labor intensive, but a lot safer.
In answer to Beryl’s questions of 12/28/2010 …
WAXING WOOD FLOORS
Questions (3): How long does [optionsforlife Floor Seal and Finish] last? And, how does it compare in that respect to a polyurethane finish? How do you clean it?
Answers: Our acrylic wax Floor Seal and Finish can last 6 to 12 months or much longer depending upon foot traffic and how often and how you maintain/clean the floor. A polyurethane finish will last longer, but it is a toxic finish. And, one more difference … when the wax shine wears down, you can buff it back — up to a point of course. When a poly finish wears down, you have to re-strip the floor — completely removing the original poly finish — and then apply a new poly coat.
It’s best to clean any wax finished floor with a neutral pH floor cleaner (like either our Multi-surface Cleaner further diluted or our Neutral pH Floor Cleaner). Neutral pH means the cleaner is not too acidic or too alkaline. Cleaners that are either too acidic (like vinegar) or too alkaline may dull and/or take off the wax finish over time.
You use hydrogen peroxide in your cleaning products which is a far superior cleaning agent than toxic chlorine bleach. I was wondering how you have accommodated for the light and temperature sensitivity of hydrogen peroxide so that it does not break down and therefore be an ineffective cleaning agent?
Hi Marti,
Hydrogen Peroxide in cleaning solutions must be ‘stabilized’ in order not to decompose before it is used. In fact, commercial solutions of Hydrogen Peroxide are usually stabilized before they are shipped and stored. So, the Hydrogen Peroxide we buy as an ingredient is already stabilized when we receive it. Hydrogen Peroxide is stabilized with chelating and sequestering agents. These agents are either inorganic/organic phosphates which are somewhat acidic or stannate which is alkaline. Colloidal stannate and sodium pyrophosphate are standard stabilizers. Organophosphonates are also common stabilizers. Don’t let the chemical names scare you. Salty tasting sodium pyrophosphate, for example, is often used as a food additive.
Are your products tested on animals?
No Amy, they are not. Now most companies would stop there (as, in fact, our finished products are not tested on animals). But I know there is someone in our audience who is asking “OK, but are or were any of your product ingredients tested on animals?” Good question.
One of our most popular products is our peroxide-based Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaner. We use hydrogen peroxide in place of chlorine bleach because peroxide is non-toxic to humans when used as directed and is unlikely to react with other ingredients found in our or conventional cleaners. Chlorine bleach, on the other hand, must be handled very carefully and is very likely to react, for example, with the ammonia commonly found in conventional glass cleaners — producing a potentially harmful to humans toxic gas. Peroxide, therefore, is a good ingredient. That being established, I must note that long before our company came along, hydrogen peroxide (yes, the same peroxide found in the brown bottle in your medicine cabinet) was tested on animals. The fact of the matter is that most ingredients of most products – especially products consumed, inhaled or worn (such as creams and cosmetics) by humans — were at one point in time tested on animals.
Today, enough is known about the plant- and mineral-derived chemical ingredients that we and other green product makers use so that there is no need to test either the ingredients (even new variations on a theme) or finished products on animals to help assure their safeness for human use.
Are all products considered/classified as hypoallergenics?
The term hypoallergenic literally means “less allergens, not “no allergens.” Most products labeled hypoallergenic mean to say that compared to conventional, similar or competitor versions of the product, this product has less allergens and, therefore, will be less likely to irritate skin, for example, or react with a person allergies.
There are no government guidelines that govern the use of the term “hypoallergenic” by marketers and manufacturers. The FDA has attempted to regulate the term but has failed due to heavy lobbying by the cosmetic industry.
In our case, we claim that our soap and detergent products are hypoallergenic. Many commercial soaps contain fragrances, dyes and certain preservatives which can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions. Ours do not. Hypoallergenic soaps, like ours, generally use plant based oils and as few ingredients as necessary.
We claim that our Green Seal Certified household and commercial cleaning products are non-toxic to humans and bio-degradable, but we do not claim that they are hypoallergenic, primarily because they contain stronger cleaning ingredients than our soaps and detergents, particularly in their concentrated form. Like our soap and detergent products, however, our Green Seal Certified cleaning product ingredients are plant, mineral or synthetically derived and we do not add fragrances, dyes or non-Green Seal approved preservatives.
People with sensitive skin or extreme allergies generally know what they are allergic to. For those people, it’s a good idea to look up the ingredients (listed on product labels) online to determine their plant, oil, mineral or synthetic origins.
And, just FYI, many naturally-derived and less processed ingredients contain many more allergens than synthetically produced ingredients.
Hi! We clean several homes in Iowa, and have noticed that in some homes, we are seeing a pink ring in the sink and a pink ring in the toilet at the water line, developing several days after our cleanings. We use the peroxide cleaner in most of bathroom, tub and tile in toilets.
We have been asked if our products are “strong enough” to clean toilets, what the pink (sometimes black) ring is (I think it is moisture/humidity reacting with some germs), and if we should be using something stronger on and around toilets and shower floors.
What say you?
I am reasonably sure your assumption is correct and that the problem is a very common bacteria that grows in damp environments during hot and humid weather. Serratia Marcescens (the bacteria) is airborne, so if it’s outside your home then it’s inside your home. Chlorinated water kills the bacteria before you see it growing (the pink color), but if the water in a toilet bowl (for example) sits for a period of time, the chlorine breaks down giving the bacteria free reign. The accumulation of bacteria and/or stopping the spread of bacteria has very little if anything to do with the nature (e.g., “strong” or “not strong”) of the toilet bowl cleaner, particularly if there is no ring to start with and then a ring appears a few days after cleaning. Any cleaner residue or disinfectant would normally have been flushed away.
Here are several remedies, along with their pros and cons. Assuming there is not much you can do about outside air quality and that you are not going hermetically seal your home, the most common solution is to add more chlorine (i.e., household chlorine bleach) to the standing water, either in the bowl or in the water tank. The problem with adding chlorine (in say the form of a chlorinated table) to the tank is that it may deteriorate your rubber flappers. Several other problems with adding a chlorine bleach-based disinfectant product to either the tank or the bowl are: 1. most chlorine bleach-based products are toxic; 2. they may burn your skin if they splash on you, your child or your pets: and 3. they may give off fumes that are known to be hazardous to one’s health.
OK, so that was not much of a solution. Flushing the toilets at least once a day may prevent a ring build up. However, since the bacteria are not harmful to your health — it just looks bad — you have judge for yourself the trade off: no ring vs. wasted water.
If a toilet bowl is infrequently used then try this. After you clean the toilet bowl with Optionsforlife Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaner with Peroxide — making sure you clean the underside of the bowl rim and the toilet seat — and flush, spray a little more cleaner in the bowl and do not flush.
Thanks for your reply! So in the toilet bowl interior, you recommend the peroxide cleaner, vs the tub and tile? (if no mineral build up, for regular cleaning)
Yes!