Welcome to the Essere Organics April Newsletter.

In this Issue

	Green Cleaning: the Laundry Room
	Green Cleaning: Making Your Meals and Washing Your Dishes

In Other News

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Green Cleaning: the Laundry Room

For many, the laundry room is a weekly retreat. It is the one place in the house, a busy family member can be alone with the comforting whir of the spin cycle. Many a college student has finished a term paper waiting for their sweatshirts to dry. Writers have worked on their novels with crossed fingers on a coffee stain in the delicates load. However, for all the solitude and comforting warmth of the laundry room, what have we done for it lately? If we are like many households, we have definitely not greened the space.

The laundry room is a complete energy drain. Dryers are one of the largest energy users in the house (refrigerators, lights and water heaters top the list). And along with using a lot of energy, the dryer is quite often used unnecessarily. To save energy, warm up the laundry room so a dryer does not have to make the extra effort to heat up. Also, hang your clothes to dry. Reserve a spot in the room for drying racks or a small indoor clothesline. Better yet, when weather and space permits, consider an outdoor clothesline. And finally, keep the lint trap clean and dry full -but not overloaded- loads. This allows the air to flow freely and dry better.

As far as the wash goes, use the cooler cycles as often as possible and separate by weight as much as color. Do not wash clothes until they are dirty. Many of us rather toss once-worn clothes into the hamper than back in the closet. This leads to possibly doubling your week’s loads.

And of course, avoid toxins in your laundry products. We can’t know exactly what’s in our laundry detergent since companies are not required to list ingredients used in their products and many manufacturers take advantage of this privilege. However, if you can find out, here are a few ingredients to avoid. Look out for diethanolamine, triethanolamine and monoethanolamine. Linked to liver and kidney cancer as well as dangerous to marine life, these ingredients are used as a surfactant in many cleaning products. Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE) are a very common detergent additive that have been known to be endocrine disruptors and harmful to the environment, breaking down poorly and disrupting the reproductive cycle in our marine life. Canada is taking an active effort to clear the environment of NPE’s and has requested alternative ingredients be used in cleaning products since 2000, but 50 years of use and lax US regulations that continue to this day has taken its toll on our aquatic environment. Finally, artificial fragrances can be petroleum derivatives and do not degrade. As well as being environmentally toxic, fragrance can cause skin irritation to those sensitive to it.

Want to try some homemade recipes? Diedre Imus in GREEN THIS, suggests a tablespoon of distllled white vinegar in the rinse cycle or a quarter cup of baking soda in the wash cycle as perfect fabric softeners. And check out Essere Organics Laundry Products for the highest standard of green cleaning.
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Green Cleaning: Making Your Meals and Washing Your Dishes

While green cooking is unique to every person (vegetarian, vegan, organic, raw food, all-natural, etc), one can see some more clear cut definitions in greening food preparation. We are just starting to really look at our kitchens and how we cook from the green perspective. For example, some of us have grown accustomed to our non-stick pots and pans -how easy they are to cook with and clean afterwards. But the chemicals used to create these wonders of the kitchen (like Teflon) have been linked to cancer. Health Canada advises not using these products above 350 degrees Celsius, however, some may want to play it safe and find alternatives for all of their cooking and baking needs. The best known alternative right now is silicone bakeware. Naturally non-stick, silicone is easy to clean, able to reach high temperatures without decomposing and available at most cookware retailers.

Another important item in the green kitchen is the cutting board. Most of us keep only one or two cutting boards, but it is best to have three -one for dairy, one for meats, and one for vegetables. This way, you are not cross-contaminating your food. Since special care should be taken in sanitizing cutting boards, maintain them according to their material. Never soak a wood board in water and sanitize immediately after use. Plastic cutting boards are easier to maintain and can be placed in dishwashers. Along with cleaning immediately after every use, also consider disinfecting your cutting boards regularly by wiping them down with vinegar. The acetic acid in the vinegar acts as a disinfectant and can kill E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus.

What better place to go green than the space between your dishes and your food? Even though cleaning products are created to take dirt and germs off of your dinnerware, cleaners also leave a little bit of themselves on every plate, cup, pot, and pan. So here is where you would want not only minimum residue, but for your cleaner to meet the higher standards of food-grade ingredients so the residue that remains is as safe as the food put on the plate. Unfortunately, large commercial manufacturers cannot be trusted for toxin-free dishwashing liquids. As far as chemicals look out for diathanolamines, sodium lauryl sulfate, and NPE’s. All can be dangerous to you and your environment. Look to Essere Organics for the highest standard of dishwashing products.
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