With a seemingly endless selection of eco-friendly cleaning products on store shelves today, it’s easy to assume that anything with a leaf symbol or natural images would be somewhat similar. Some products are labeled as being natural cleaning products, and others are described as green cleaning products.
While they sit alongside each other in the store, these products are not all the same. Before making your next shopping trip for cleaning supplies, it’s important to understand what their differences are.
Natural Cleaning: What Does It Mean?
A natural cleaning product stands apart from green cleaning products in its ingredients. Natural products are completely or almost completely made out of natural ingredients.
You won’t find artifical dyes or man-made chemicals on the list of ingredients, but you will find a combination of essential oils, plant-based elements, and mild organic acids. They don’t have artificial dyes, chemicals, or compounds. Ingredients you might find on the label include:
- Baking soda
- White vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Tea tree oil
- Lavender oil
- Eucalyptus oil
You can also make natural cleaning products using simple recipes containing these ingredients. Recipes may also have hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol.
Overall, these various natural ingredients can whiten, remove hard water stains and soap scum, deodorize, and even fight germs. However, there aren’t federal guidelines regarding these products.
Green Cleaning: More Than Just Natural Ingredients
The term “green cleaning” goes beyond a product with a simple list of natural ingredients. The product package usually has a symbol from the EPA or Green Seal. A certification symbol means that a product meets high standards for everything from sourcing the ingredients to packaging and more. Such standards aren’t easy to meet.
In fact, these organization’s certification processes require a review of manufacturing facility emissions, use of renewable resources, contamination, and impact on the environment and wildlife. These are products that are perfectly safe to use in your home and have minimal impact on the environment.
Natural vs. Green Cleaning: Key Differences
While it’s easy to confuse the terms, natural and green cleaning products are unique in most areas. In fact, these are the primary differences between them:
Natural cleaning:
- Uses natural ingredients, but the products aren’t necessarily made in green facilities
- Don’t have potentially toxic chemicals that are known to cause health problems
- Don’t need to meet specific guidelines
- May use plastic containers
On the other hand, green cleaning:
- Uses eco-friend manufacturing and packaging
- Uses minimal natural resources
- Have biodegradable and non-toxic ingredients , but some of them could be synthetic
- Use recyclable package and could be in a concentrated formula
- Are certified
Are Natural Products Always Green?
The bottom line is that natural products are generally safe for use in your home and are effective cleaners, but they aren’t the same as green cleaning products.
A natural product can be completely made with natural ingredients, but it might still have a big carbon footprint, manufacturing processes that are bad for the environment and wildlife, use plastic packaging.
On the other hand, not every green cleaning product is completely natural. For example, a green cleaning product might have artificial ingredients, but it could have a certification because it meets specific stands for its impact on the environment and its carbon footprint.
Which Cleaning Approach Is Right for Your Home?
You can’t take chances with something as important as how you clean your home. After all, how you choose to clean affects the health of everyone in your home. It also has broader effects on the environment. So, what’s the best type of product to use?
If you don’t want your pets and children to be exposed to potentially dangerous chemicals and fumes, choose natural cleaning products. If you’re focused on the larger environmental picture, look for green products. A reasonable middle ground is to prepare your own natural cleaning products and store them in reusable containers.
It’s often confusing to decide which methods and products are best for your home, but you don’t need to make enjoying the benefits of a clean home more challenging than it needs to be. TidyHere uses green, safe cleaning products in every service. So, our clients always enjoy a clean, healthy living space without stress. Are you ready to learn more about TidyHere green cleaning services? Get in touch with our housecleaning team soon for full details about our cleaning products and process.
