Consumer Beware – “Green” Cleaning Products That Are Not Green.

Sometimes cleaning products are “Greenwashed”, which means that they are labeled as “green” and “biodegradable” when in reality they are not. Marketers know that if you slap pretty pictures of plants along with the words “green” and “biodegradable” on products, people will just assume the product is safe and environmentally friendly without actually reading the ingredients.

One of the worst offenders of “greenwashing” is the Simple Green Concentrated All-Purpose Cleaner. It is labelled as “non-toxic” and “biodegradable”. Yet the product contains 2-butoxyethanol, a chemical that is sinks into the skin and damages red blood cells. Not to mention an unknown blend of alcohol ethoxylate surfactants, some of which are banned in the European Union.

Their new motto should be: “So effective, its illegal in some countries”

Other times, a cleaning product will be made from orange oils and citrus peels. The smell will make people think of delicious fruits and happy times, and the association will make people feel as if it is a safe product. Such as the Cirta-Solv Cleaner & Degreaser. This product smells great, yet contains 85-95 percent d-limonene, and when sprayed into the air, d-limonene can react with ozone particles and create formaldehyde, which you then breathe in. Which is bad for you.

Smells great. But whatever you do, don’t smell it.

 Here are Go Green, we would prefer that you and the planet stay healthy, so please take care when buying cleaning products, read the labels, and don’t eat it.