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Green Cleaners

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Green Cleaners

Advantages of making your own cleaners   Green Cleaner Graphic

  • Simple ingredients
  • Inexpensive to make
  • Better for the environment
  • Better for indoor air quality and safer for janitorial staff

How to make your own cleaning products

Making your own cleaning products for the workplace is easier than it sounds. Effective cleaners that are safe for people and the environment can be made from everyday items such as vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, salt, soap and water. 

Basic ingredients for DIY Green Cleaners

White distilled vinegar

  • Use it in a spray bottle on windows and as an after-shower spray to cut soap scum
  • Pour some into your clothing rinse cycle to remove odors and soften clothes
  • Simmer on the stove to deodorize cooking odors
  • Gummy, sticky mess? Soak it in vinegar to dissolve

Baking soda

  • Sprinkle in your garbage pail or diaper pail to deodorize
  • Mix with castile soap for a soft scrub in the bathroom or kitchen
  • Open a box in the fridge or freezer to deodorize
  • Sprinkle on carpet to freshen, then vacuum up

Hydrogen peroxide (3%, right out of the first aid aisle)

  • Use on grass or blood stains (take care! It will bleach clothing!)
  • Spray on countertops and leave for 10 minutes to sanitize
  • Use to remove oil stains on concrete

Castile soap (vegetable-based soap)

  • Use anywhere you would use soap or detergent: dishes, countertops, clothing, floors, hands
  • Mix with baking soda for a soft scrub paste

Essential oil (try peppermint or lemon for a fresh scent)

  • Use instead of artificial fragrance. Caution: essential oil is powerful! Use only a drop or two at a time.

Recipes

 

Green All-purpose Cleaner

You can use this cleaner for just about every kind of surface, from kitchen counters and appliances to bathroom surfaces, mirrors and walls.

  • 2 cups Water
  • 1 cup Hydrogen Peroxide
  • ¼ cup Lemon Juice

Keep it pre-mixed in a reused spray bottle in your workplace.

 

Green Window Cleaner

Perfect for streak-free windows.

  • 2 cups warm water​
  • 1/4 cups rubbing alcohol
  • 1/4 cups white vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Combine everything in a spray bottle, and shake well.

For more green cleaner recipes and tips use our Green Cleaner Recipe Handout.