Tag Archives: peroxide

3 Natural Bleach Alternatives and How to Use Them

by EdWampleriipwu Posted on October 7, 2017

I’ve always been a huge fan of clean, white linens ? towels, sheets, you name it!?But keeping them bright white?is an entirely different story.

When I first became a wife and started managing some of the household duties like washing our linens, I usually turned to chlorine bleach to whiten?and sanitize. However, even when I diluted the substance properly and took precautions to protect myself against the fumes, I still felt a bit woozy after using it.

Truth is, bleach is actually pretty toxic stuff, and the health risks associated with using it are no joke. So, I turned to natural solutions. Looking for a natural way to whiten your laundry? Look no further. I’ve rounded up the best natural?natural bleach alternatives out there, so you can phase out bleach for good!

3 Natural Bleach Alternatives and How to Use Them

1. Hydrogen Peroxide & Lemon Juice Recipe

Hydrogen peroxide is a fantastic sanitizer and disinfectant that you can find at most drugstores. It’s non-toxic and whitens without any harsh chemicals (there’s a reason it’s safe to use on your body), so you don’t have to worry about the same dangers you might find with bleach.

The other part of this recipe, lemon juice, is naturally acidic and has whitening properties as well; plus, it smells absolutely delightful!

Here’s what you’ll need for this DIY natural bleach alternative:

3 cups of water
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide (3% solution)
2 Tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice

Simply mix together in a quart-sized jar or container. Toss 1 cup of the solution in with your laundry to brighten it, and wash with cold water.?You can also?add another 1/2 cup or so of hydrogen peroxide to the mix to use as a cleaner for?your bathroom or kitchen surfaces.

2. White Distilled Vinegar

Vinegar?works an absolute charm in the home! Just overlook the smell and you’ll find that you have a cure-all liquid on your hands.

The acetic properties of white distilled vinegar will help brighten your clothes and remove any mold residue that may be stuck in your towels. Simply add 1 cup of vinegar to a pot of boiling water and let it?cool for a few minutes. Soak your whites overnight, then wash like normal. Easy!

3. Baking Soda & Vinegar

Baking soda is about as cheap and effective as it gets. And it’s not just great for laundry! Baking soda does a great job of disinfecting and removing stains from the toilet, shining stainless steel, and even remedying acne.

To clean the toilet:

Pour 1/2 cup?of white vinegar into the toilet bowl, and let sit?for 30 minutes. Once your thirty minutes is up, sprinkle baking soda onto your toilet brush and scrub, then flush. That’s it!

To whiten laundry:

Toss 1/2 cup of baking soda with powdered laundry detergent and use normally. The baking soda will cut down greasy stains and residue, ensuring your clothes come out cleaner than ever!

How do you avoid toxic bleach in your home? Any alternatives to share?

Related at Care2

23 Ingenious Uses for White Vinegar
51 Fantastic Uses for Baking Soda
16 Dangerous Sources of Indoor AIr Pollution

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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3 Natural Bleach Alternatives and How to Use Them

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A flooded chemical plant near Houston is just going to keep exploding.

by TranThiHangNguy Posted on September 1, 2017

On Thursday, explosions and black plumes of smoke were seen coming from a chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, 15 miles east of Houston’s city center.

Arkema, the company that owns the plant, said there was nothing they could do to prevent further explosions. The volatile chemicals stored onsite need to be refrigerated at all times to prevent breakdown, but flooding from Harvey cut the plant’s power. The “only plausible solution” now is to let the eight containers, containing 500,000 pounds of organic peroxides, explode and burn out, Arkema CEO Rich Rowe said at a press conference on Friday.

That’s bad news for Arkema’s neighbors. On Thursday, 15 public safety officers were taken to the hospital after breathing in acrid smoke from the plant. After local officials took a peek at Arkema’s chemical inventories, they ordered everyone within a 1.5-mile radius of the plant to evacuate. We don’t know precisely what’s in the noxious fumes, as Arkema has refused to release details of the facility’s chemical inventories.

In the worst-case scenario documented in the company’s 2014 risk-management plan, the air pollution coming from the plant could put the 1 million people living within 20 miles radius in danger. That seems unlikely — but then again, Harvey has outdone plenty of worst-case scenario predictions so far.

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A flooded chemical plant near Houston is just going to keep exploding.

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Trump’s Harvey aid donation is a drop in the bucket compared to the storm’s real price tag.

by GuillermoHudgin Posted on September 1, 2017

On Thursday, explosions and black plumes of smoke were seen coming from a chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, 15 miles east of Houston’s city center.

Arkema, the company that owns the plant, said there was nothing they could do to prevent further explosions. The volatile chemicals stored onsite need to be refrigerated at all times to prevent breakdown, but flooding from Harvey cut the plant’s power. The “only plausible solution” now is to let the eight containers, containing 500,000 pounds of organic peroxides, explode and burn out, Arkema CEO Rich Rowe said at a press conference on Friday.

That’s bad news for Arkema’s neighbors. On Thursday, 15 public safety officers were taken to the hospital after breathing in acrid smoke from the plant. After local officials took a peek at Arkema’s chemical inventories, they ordered everyone within a 1.5-mile radius of the plant to evacuate. We don’t know precisely what’s in the noxious fumes, as Arkema has refused to release details of the facility’s chemical inventories.

In the worst-case scenario documented in the company’s 2014 risk-management plan, the air pollution coming from the plant could put the 1 million people living within 20 miles radius in danger. That seems unlikely — but then again, Harvey has outdone plenty of worst-case scenario predictions so far.

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Trump’s Harvey aid donation is a drop in the bucket compared to the storm’s real price tag.

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Coffee Pod Sales Will Soon Surpass Regular and Instant Coffee

by JeannaEdmonson1 Posted on September 12, 2016

Theyre calling it the Clooney effect. Single-use coffee pods are flying off supermarket shelves at a faster rate than ever before, possibly aided by actor George Clooneys persuasive good looks in European Nespresso advertisements since 2006 and, more recently, in the United States.

Kantar Worldpanelrecently announced that coffee pod sales of brands such as Nespresso, Tassimo, and Dolce Gusto (owned by Nescaf) willsoon overtake standard roast and ground coffee after an increase of 29.5 per cent over the last 12 months, bringing sales to 137.5 million. During the same period, sales of roast and ground varieties rose by only 2.5 per cent to 167 million.(The Telegraph) In its report, based on data from 986 million households across 35 countries, Kantar goes on to explain that the global market has expanded 16 percent in the past year, with particularly strong growth in France and Spain.

Photo Credit: Daniel Lobo/Flickr

This is sad news for those of us who wish that more sustainable consumer practices would infiltrate the mainstream. There is nothing green about coffee pods, no matter what the manufacturers tell you. The recycling claims aremostly bogus, as the used pods are a mix of plastic, aluminum foil, and coffee grounds that must be separated by hand in order for recycling to occur. It remains, as Lloyd wrote earlier, design for unsustainability, regardless of how manufacturers want to spin it.

Shipping pods across the country to make the world’s most expensive compost out of the coffee and lawn chairs out of the plastic doesn’t make a lot of sense. As for the people who try to separate the components themselves, there are not that many of them; if they are willing to do that, they probably have the time and energy to make a real pot of coffee.

Change did seem imminent. Earlier this year thecity of Hamburg, Germany, banned the purchase of all coffee pods using council money in an attempt to reduce waste. A YouTube video called Kill the K-Cup got many others thinking about where their used pods end up long after the cup of coffee has been finished. Even the Keurig cup inventor hasexpressed regretat unleashing such an environmental nightmare into the world. And yet, Kantar reveals that sales continue to climb, likely due to the sheer convenience of having to do nothing but press a button.

Coffee capsules have helped create the holy grail of marketing: a new category combining the indulgence of caf culture with the convenience and speed of the capsules.

Nespresso advertises on a historic building in Turin, Italy. Photo Credit: Lloyd Alter

This, despite the fact that pods are ridiculously expensive compared to high quality beans. Pods can work out to cost between 30 and 50 dollars per pound, which is a vast difference from the $16 I shell out every couple weeks for a pound of fairtrade, shade-grown beans.The Telegraph citesKantar analyst Ed John: An average cup of regular instant coffee costs only 2 pence (3 U.S. cents). A caf-style instant is 17p (23) while the fastest growing sectorpodscost an average of 31p (41) per cup.

Pods makes no sense for any reason other than convenience, and even that could be argued: its not that difficult to boil water and push down a French press. But, like so many other environmentally destructive practices, people need to be willing to put in a tiny bit more effort in order to lessen their footprint significantly and yet, Kantars findings show that people really dont seem to care. How sad.

Written by Katherine Martinko.This post originally appeared onTreeHugger.

Photo Credit: Tim Lossen/Flickr

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Coffee Pod Sales Will Soon Surpass Regular and Instant Coffee

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McDonald’s Insists Its Sugar Decision Is a Big Deal

by RosellaYITK Posted on August 3, 2016

Mother Jones

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McDonald’s recently announced plans to remove high-fructose corn syrup from its buns and replace it with sugar, as “part of its drive to target increasingly health-conscious consumers,” Reuters reports. But my immediate response to the news was not: Great—time to grab a Big Mac, now they’re healthy! Instead, it made me want to figure out just how much sweetener the resurgent (sort of) burger behemoth is pumping into its nondessert offerings.

Now, sweetener is by no means a necessary ingredient in bread—you won’t find it in a baguette, for example, or the famous 24-hour no-knead method popularized by Mark Bittman. But it is quite common in modern commercial baking because it speeds up the rising process. Even the Whole Foods version of a classic hamburger bun—a concept McDonald’s surely helped shape—contains sugar, as does this recipe for homemade buns from the Kitchn website, which calls for 2 tablespoons, around 18 grams, of sugar for eight buns. That’s about 2.25 grams of sugar per serving—not very much, as I’ll show below.

But McD’s HFCS-to-sugar announcement still made me want to take a peak behind the Golden Arches to see how much sweet stuff is hiding on the savory side of the menu.

It should be noted that sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are chemically very similar. And as Gary Taubes and Cristin Kearns Couzens showed in a blockbuster 2012 Mother Jones article, “sugar and its nearly chemically identical cousin, HFCS, may very well cause diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, and that these chronic conditions would be far less prevalent if we significantly dialed back our consumption of added sugars.”

People know they’re getting a sugar blast when they order a Coke or a chocolate sundae; not so much when they’re ordering a burger. The McDonald’s website features a “nutrition calculator” with detailed information on every regular menu. Scrolling around it, I find that a Big Mac contains 9 grams of sugar, while a Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Sandwich has 11 grams and a Quarter Pounder with Cheese packs 10 grams. Even the healthy-sounding Southwest Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Salad contains 9 grams. The Sausage McGriddle, originally a morning item whose availability has expanded as part of McDonald’s popular “all-day breakfast” strategy, has 15 grams.

To put those numbers in perspective, three Chips Ahoy cookies contain 11 grams of sugar. The World Health Organization recommends limiting added sugar intake to about 25 grams per day—meaning that a Quarter Pounder delivers about 40 percent of the maximum sugar you should be taking in. Combine it with other common McDonald’s items—a small Coke (47 grams) or a small vanilla shake (61 grams)—and you’ve just swallowed quite a sugar bomb. Even forgoing that obviously sweet stuff for a simple McCafe Iced Coffee (22 grams) would push you well over the World Health Organization’s recommendation.

So where is all the sweetener coming from in savory items like burgers and chicken sandwiches? The company doesn’t break down nutrition info by a dish’s components, but the “nutrition calculator” does drill down on ingredients. Here’s what’s in a Big Mac bun:

Enriched Unbleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Yeast, Soybean Oil, Contains 2% or Less: Salt, Wheat Gluten, Sesame Seeds, Leavening (Calcium Sulfate, Ammonium Sulfate), May Contain One or More Dough Conditioners (Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Mono and Diglycerides, Monocalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Calcium Peroxide), Calcium Propionate (Preservative).

Note that HFCS (soon to be switched out for sugar) is the third ingredient, after flour and water. The other Quarter Pounder component that contains sweetener is the “Big Mac sauce,” whose ingredients are no longer secret:

Soybean Oil, Pickle Relish (Diced Pickles, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate Preservative, Spice Extractives, Polysorbate 80), Distilled Vinegar, Water, Egg Yolks, Onion Powder, Mustard Seed, Salt, Spices, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Mustard Bran, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Vegetable Protein (Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy and Wheat), Caramel Color, Extractives of Paprika, Soy Lecithin, Turmeric (Color), Calcium Disodium EDTA (Protect Flavor).

That’s some sweet pickle relish, goosed up with HFCS, corn syrup, and sugar. (The company has announced no plans to swap HFCS for sugar in its condiments.)

As for the Southwest Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Salad and its 9 gram of sugar, check out the “cilantro lime glaze” that graces it:

Water, Corn Syrup Solids, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Distilled Vinegar, Olive Oil, Soybean Oil, Freeze-Dried Orange Juice Concentrate, Cilantro, Salt, Freeze-Dried Lime Juice Concentrate, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate (Preservatives), Garlic Powder, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Spice, Onion Powder, Citric Acid.

However, the company made a genuinely momentous revelation along with the HFCS dud: It said 100 percent of the chicken it serves is raised without antibiotics important to human medicine, making good on a pledge the company made back in March 2015 and beating its own timetable by six months. For a deep dive into why helping the meat industry break its antibiotic habit is crucial, check out my story from earlier this year.

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McDonald’s Insists Its Sugar Decision Is a Big Deal

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Using Hydrogen Peroxide to Kill Spidermite

by Myrna Posted on November 3, 2015

I have tried pretty much everything to eliminate spidermite with limited success.  There always seems to be that “one that got away” and the process starts all over again.  I was reading how some horticulturalists had used hydrogen peroxide to kill plant pests.

So I thought I would see if I could come up with a process that would actually get rid of an entire colony of spider mite all at once.

What I had been using fairly successfully was Neem Oil and Organic coconut oil based soap.  So instead of mixing these ingredients with water I mixed them with 3% hydrogen peroxide.  I used  a battery operated sprayer that creates a fine mist.  For every quart of hydrogen peroxide I used a tablespoon of Neem oil and a tablespoon of Organic Castille Soap (Dr. Bronner’s Un-Scented Baby Mild Pure-Castile Liquid Soap).

Then the plants were removed from under their grow lights (otherwise they can burn) and sprayed on all sides including the soil and containers until they were dripping.  One variety (White Widow) did not like the spray at all (survived but lots of leaves were burned); All of the plants lost some of the larger palmate leaves to burn but in general I was satisfied because of the result:  Within a few days there were no eggs, nor spider mite to be found anywhere.  I also sprayed the growing benches with the solution.

If you try this I would recommend mixing up the solution and spraying one or two plants to see if the variety is sensitive.  Don’t spray all of your plants and then be disappointed because they didn’t fare well.  Always check treatments on one or two plants first.  If you have several varieties, test each variety.

A month later the plants are still clean.

Do invest in a battery operated sprayer.  Its the best way to get complete coverage for this type of operation.

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