EL PASO -- Recently, I ran out of laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid and decided it was time to take the plunge and shell out a couple more bucks for environmentally friendly products.
When I opened the bottles, the first thing that hit me was ...nothing. We've come to expect a generous whiff of pine or lemon, or "After the Rain," whatever that is. But of course, there's nothing that says our cleaners have to be fragrant. My parents' generation didn't have this luxury; the house used to smell like ammonia. So the absence of cleaner scent is a blessing, really.

Do they get the job done? My new detergent is from one of the smaller but better-known green brands, and my new dishwashing liquid is part of a new line by the leading manufacturer of bleach. They handled just like my old cleaners and cleaned just as well. But if you think the ingredient lists in these products will be easier to read than those of their non-green equivalents, you are in for a surprise.


A lot of green cleaners replace petroleum-based ingredients with plant-derived ones like coconut oil and corn oil. The names are things like alkyl polyglucoside (comes from coconut oil) and ethanol SDA-3C (comes from corn oil.) The general rule when reading labels is to pay no attention to vague, feel-good words like "natural," and seek specific attributes like biodegradable, plant- or mineral-based, nontoxic, not tested on animals and preferably poured in a bottle made of recycled plastics. My strategy will be to pick a brand and stick with it, which is what I used to do with my old toxic cleaners.

The best thing about green cleaners is what they don't contain. Phosphates, for instance, are no longer a common ingredient in laundry detergents and household cleaners in the United States because they get into water streams and cause algae growth that deprive fish of oxygen. Phosphates are still in some dishwasher detergents because they keep dirt from re-depositing on your dishes, which I have to admit is a good thing. NPE, or nonylphenol ethoxylate, is another harmful ingredient. It helps water mix with dirt but also somehow harms fish. Chlorine, as in bleach, is an irritant, among other things (hydrogen peroxide is a safer replacement).

Green cleaners are better for the environment and healthier than the alternatives, but they have their own problems. The natural ingredients they contain have increased the demand for things like palm oil and have put environmental stress on places that grow them.

One solution to this conundrum is to advocate for sustainable agriculture everywhere. Or you can go dark green in your own house and use white vinegar (a decent disinfectant by the way) for things like soap scum and hard water rings, and baking soda for greasy messes. A few more green cleaning tips follow.


  • Buy in bulk (less packaging).

  • Choose concentrated detergents (less packaging, less transportation pollution and less water used).

  • Use a sponge instead of paper towels or wipes. Kill 99 percent of bacteria in your sponge by microwaving it for two minutes.

  • Leave your shoes at the door. There will be less to clean.

  • Recycle. Most detergent bottles are marked with a 1 or a 2 inside a triangle; those can go into your blue bins. To dispose of bottles that still contain some of your old, toxic cleaners, take them to a Citizens Collection Station.

  • Send questions and comments on green matters to Louie Gilot on her blog, www.lagreenga.com.