So you have your green washing machine and you are making sure you do full loads at no more than 40C (104F), but you could ruin all your hard work if you do not pay attention to the detergent you use. Conventional washing powders contain many chemicals, such as pigments, fluorescent whitening agents and silicone defoamers. But many of these are not even listed on the packaging; a study by Ethical Consumer magazine found that a typical laundry detergent has 12-16 ingredients, only five or six of which are commonly listed.
The problem with most of these chemicals is their impact on the environment both when they are manufactured and after use when they are dispatched into the sewerage system and potentially our waterways. For example:
Phosphates and phosphonates, used as builders' to keep dirt from being redeposited on clothes, can cause algae blooms, which distort the natural balance in rivers and lakes; not all sewage plants can remove phosphates from the water, so they can go through to our waterways.
Bleaches used in most mainstream powders can pollute waterways and undermine the bacterial action that helps break down sewage in sewage plants.
Surfactants, such as alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) and linear alkyl benzene sulphonate |
|
Read more...
|
Discuss this item on the forums. (0 posts) |
Fashion has come to the kitchen. As one celebrity chef after another appears 'at home' in their own kitchen so we become ever more aspirational with regard to the design of our own kitchens. Current fashionable materials in kitchen design are stainless steel and wood - but which are the most environmentally friendly?
Cabinets
When it comes to your kitchen cabinets the healthiest material to use is untreated wood that you are certain comes from a sustainable source, preferably with FSC certification. It is expensive and higher maintenance, but it is also probably the best ecological choice.
Some of the cheapest and most popular materials for kitchen cabinets are particleboards or chipboards covered in plastic laminate, but they offer mixed blessings in terms of the environment. While they often make good use of small bits of timber that are produced in sustainable forestry, the glue that is used to bind them together can contain the health-threatening chemical formaldehyde - a suspected carcinogen, which can offgas (leak into the air) around you. Up to 10 per cent of some boards' weight is made up of this glue. Look instead for formaldehyde-free board or low-formaldehyde chipboard.
Surfaces
Kitchen surfaces can make all the difference when it comes |
|
Read more...
|
Discuss this item on the forums. (0 posts)
|
Other than reviving the use of the larder or 'cool room' in your home or no longer using foods that need refrigeration, there is little choice but to use a fridge and, for many of us, a freezer as well.
If you are buying a new fridge or freezer, the single most important thing to look out for is the kind of refrigerant it uses. In the past, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were commonly used as cooling agents. By 1986 a quarter of all global CFC production was for refrigeration, but once the hole in the ozone was discovered and CFCs blamed, fridge makers were forced to find a new gas.
They turned to hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) for the coolant and in the foam insulation, but these have now been found to contribute to global warming. HCFCs are being phased out - they are illegal in all newly manufactured fridges and freezers - but HFCs are still being produced and they continue to exacerbate the greenhouse effect.
But there is a 'green' alternative developed by Greenpeace called Greenfreeze, which uses a natural gas, hydrocarbon, for the refrigerant.
If you are not in the market for a new fridge or freezer, there are still ways |
|
Read more...
|
Discuss this item on the forums. (0 posts)
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 Next > End >>
|
| Results 5 - 8 of 9 |
