Off the Urban Grid

To Bleach or Not to Bleach

Bleach is a powerful product with multiple purposes. You can use it in your laundry when you have a load of stained whites, and you can kill germs and mildew around the house. It seems like a necessary product to have around. Although some environmental organizations have bleach on their list of eco-friendly cleaners, there is an issue to be considered. The bleach itself isn’t necessarily bad. Instead, the issue is with the chlorine.

In order to create bleach, a salt molecule is split to make chlorine, which requires electricity. Because chlorine is a chemical, it can react differently when in contact with other elements. For example, when chlorine and carbon combine, they create organochlorides. Common organochlorides include DDT and Dioxin, which shows just how harmful these by-products can be to plants and animals.

If you’re using bleach for housekeeping, you will most likely not come in contact with carbon and create organochlorides. The by-products from household use of bleach include salt and water. However, the conditions for carbon and chlorine exist in industries where paper is bleached, plastics are manufactured or bleach is created.

So who cares if bleach creates organochlorides if it doesn’t create them in your home, right? Well, by purchasing bleach, you support the product, and if you buy bleached paper and plastics, you support the pollution from organochlorides. The best thing to do is use safe, natural alternatives to cleaning. This includes essential oils, baking soda and vinegar. Without bleach, you can still fight microbes, fungus and other germs.

In addition to limiting your use of bleach, you can also buy chlorine-free paper and reduce your consumption of plastic. Even though a product or ingredient might not cause pollution or toxins in your home, you still need to consider the larger health effects that can affect you and other living things when you’re outdoors.

Tags: bleach, eco-friendly housekeeping, health effects of bleach