Dishwasher powder - greener, cheaper

Initially published on 23/08/2011

You're concerned about environnment, lucky you, dishwashers use less water and electricity than hand washing: hand washing with open tap can make you spend up to 100 liters water!

To sum up dishwashers are more ecological... depending on what you use as a cleaning powder, which necessarily has to be strong enough to compensate mechanic action. These chemical products that replace the movement on your arm can be very polluting and end up in the environment.

That is why it is important to choose your powder carefully. You can find "svanemerket" products but as many ecological products, this has a cost.

Here is a solution, based on this kind of powder, but that you will need in less important quantities.

It is a recipe I found on the French blog http://untrucparjour.blogspot.com/ :

- 30% krystall soda (supermarket)

- 30% sodium bicarbonate (natron) ; if someone knows where to find it at a reasonable price...

- 30% dishwasher powder (buy the refill is enough -->less plastic)

- 10% sodium percarbonate (not mandatory but it helps taking off residue) ; I use it for laundry as a bleaching agent.

All these powder must be perfectly mixed; shake it in a jar where you have enough space or use a blender. But be careful with the dust, which I guess is not so good to breathe.

If you need rinsing liquid (which I don't), you can use white vinegar.

And that's a new step towards green living!

Comments

Eco-take care of your skin, that's easy & cheap

Oil is your best friend! (see below) Are you sick of using creams you don't understand half of the ingredients (usually not a good sign), and which your skin does not seem to appreciate? Here are easy solutions to replace them. You can first decide to buy organic cosmetics, but since it's rather expensive I understand why many people give up. But at least you know that stuff you put on your skin are healthy. You can also decide to make your own cosmetics yourself ; it is not that hard to find raw material but it doesn't mean it's easy to to make a high quality cream. That requires knowledge on your type of skin, on the ingredients you use, on chemistry (a cream is an emulsion) and on hygiene precautions. The great advantage is that you know exactly what's in it and choose the ingredients according to what you really need. On this blog I will only speak of easy stuff to make, like lip balm for example. But as regards skin care, I like simplicity, wh...

How to recycle a fleece jacket?

Fleece is a very useful material and there are many things you can turn an old jacket into, like make up pads ( see previous article ), baby wipes, dusters and so on. Every piece of fleece is reusable, so the first step is to remove all the threads. It's even more interesting because where the fleece was folded (hemline) or inside the pocket, the fabric has remained very soft, perfect to use on the skin. I think, other parts, more "exposed" are still soft enough. You might see the different textures by clicking on the picture. Once the fleece is ready, there is nothing easier: you just have to cut the shape you want, and it's done. Small squares for facial pad s, bigger pieces for baby wipes ...or duster . I didn't expect it the first time I tried but fleece is a very efficient dust catcher. As efficient, maybe more than microfiber cloth . That's why I use it to clean the floor too. I cut a long rectangle so I can tie it on my specia...

Menstrual cup, feminine and environmental revolution

Initially published on 8/06/2011 Today I wanted to tell you about what helped me to reduce (or suppress) my biggest source of waste. Each woman uses about 10 000 tampon or sanitary towels in her life. It's a lot of waste, of money but also of pollution if you include the production of those sanitary protections. A menstrual cup or "menskopp" in Norwegian is a feminine protection that you place in your vagina so that it collect the menstruation blood. You just have to empty it - which is not as disgusting as one could think - twice a day and reuse it again and again. Environmental-friendly When I first heard about the menstrual cup, it was completely - accidentally - on a forum that was not even dedicated to it. I already cared about environment at the time but I had never really thought about this, or neither knew there were other solutions. I immediately liked the concept, especially because there was no waste anymore, at all! ...

The Green touch

Search This Blog