SUSTAINABLE HOME DESIGN
Making South African Homes More Environmentally Sustainable

Chemical Products

Household cleaners | Home Made Cleaners | Environmentally Friendly Household Cleaners | Paints, Varnishes and Oils etc | Disposal

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Household cleaners

There are various non toxic, environmentally friendly alternatives on the market place. We suggest you try the alternatives out for effectiveness – some definitely seem to be “cleaner” than they manage to clean…

For washing powders you want them to be biodegradable, phosphate free. A slight irony here is that for most plants (but not fynbos), phosphates help with growth, so reusing phosphate based grey water on plants can be beneficial. Apart from that phosphates kill just about everything else, which outweighs this.

Home Made Cleaners

Environmentally Friendly Household Cleaners

In South Africa:

  • Pick & Pay sell a "green" dishwashing liquid
  • Most shops sell Eco-Soft washing machine powder (and they have one with a built in softener)
  • There are also suppliers such as Enchantrix http://enchantrix.co.za/ who sell a range of products

Overseas:

Paints, Varnishes and Oils etc

Lead:

  • The first step for paints is to go for lead free paints. This is actually quite difficult – “lead free” is used quite glibly – paint with lead in it has over 5% lead – paint with less is “lead free” (South African Paint Manufacturers Association http://www.sapma.org.za/health_safetya.htm#5 ).  More technical details about lead in paint are available here: Oil & Colour Chemists' Association South African Division http://www.occa.org.za/paintopedia/pigments/leadpigments.htm
  • There are various paint suppliers in SA who claim to offer lead free paint, however we're not sure of the validity of the claims, as there is no compliancy or certification process in SA. We suggest you contact the suppliers and obtain details of the claims.
  • The next step is to remember that most but not all oil based paint, is, well, made from fossil fuel (crude) oil (apart from natural ones – see below).

VOCs:

  • Thereafter things get even more complex. Paints contain volatile organic compounds, or VOCs – they are poisonous gasses that are released when paint dries ( http://www.paintquality.co.za/faq/2-4.htm?id=1324 ).
  • Oil based paints are generally high in VOCs. Latex based paints are lower. Just like with lead, low VOC or VOC free is highly misleading – it's just about complying to standards. Also darker colours usually introduce higher VOCs.

Organic or Natural Paints, Varnishes etc:

  • So called organic or natural paint is made from plant oils, water or milk, with only natural ingredients – plant resins, chalk, natural colorants (from plants or minerals) etc. Thus they come from fairly renewable sources, and don't give off harmful fumes. Natural varnishes are made from plant resins and thinners – and natural thinners (also known as turpentine) is made from plant oil. Natural wax is made from bees wax and natural thinners. Bees wax in particular is great for surfacing wood and floors – look for commercial products made of bees wax and natural thinners.

The following paints claim to be lead free, organic, VOC free:

Disposal

Most people throw batteries away and pour paint, terps, paraffin etc down the drain – all of which end up poisoning the environment further. There are very few places in South Africa you can take products to for proper disposal, however look under Separation in the Reduce, Reuse Recycle section