“Just like with food, you can go out and buy processed food like a Big Mac, or you can go out and get good organic whole foods. The same is true for cleaning. There is certainly a huge range of cleaning agents people can use; Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is pretty typical in the industry. This is a petrochemical byproduct designed for degreasing. The chemical though, is very hard on the human endocrine system, and is very drying to the skin. Because of this, we like to use plant based soaps made from good quality oils. We are big proponents of Decyl Glucoside. Out of all the soaps we researched, Decyl Glucoside is the only eco-cert certified soap out there that readily biodegrades and doesn’t strip the protective mantle of the skin. You can truly do glove free cleaning with this product. We complement the soap with products like baking soda and antibacterial essential oils.
One of our cleaners for instance is called Four
Thieves Chai; it is based on the original thieves’ oil recipe which is a blend of cloves, cinnamon, rosemary and eucalyptus. It is an antibacterial blend of essential oils that we add to our Decyl Glucoside base to make it a really good cleaner that also smells really good. Unlike synthetic fragrance, the smell doesn’t linger in the air.
What you are left with when using thieves cleaner is a clean smelling fresh environment that is truly uplifting and doesn’t have any of the toxic effect of synthetic fragrance or strong acid cleaners.
Another ingredient we use in cleaning is a special textile called microfiber. Microfiber cloths when used with a good gentle cleaner have a superior effect over cotton and bleach. Bleach is a highly corrosive product that is very hard on the respiratory system, and is not very stable.
You mix up a bottle of bleach and next week that bottle of bleach is not doing an optimal job of disinfecting. If you use a Gentle Earth microfiber cloth in combination with just water or with a good gentle cleaner you will achieve better results than using cotton cloths. Cotton is a tree trunk compared to microfiber which is like a blade of grass. Microfiber has the ability to lock in germs.
One of the points I like to make with people is; if you have an incredible technology like microfiber that picks up all of the germs and pathogen load, then why do we need to disinfect? The reason we now have super bug problems in hospitals and workplaces is because we are over disinfecting and under cleaning. Emphasis needs to be put back on the quality of the cleaning job. We need to be using products like microfiber with natural cleaners.
We have several different cleaners we recommend. One is the four thieves’ chai blend, and another is a degreaser called Citrus Solution which is orange oil with Decyl Glucoside. It is a heavy solution which really cuts through grease and smells like oranges. And the third product is a kitchen and bathroom cleaner which is made from hydrogen peroxide; which is food safe, combined with Decyl Glucoside and a lemongrass, rosemary blend. We also have a really lovely soft scrub which is a baking soda based product that you can sprinkle on to things like toilets. And of course there is the microfiber cleaning technology.
With a microfiber flat mop we typically see a 23% reduction time in cleaning time compared to using a traditional mop. And the result is a better quality of clean. The microfiber locks in all of the dirt; it doesn’t leave a third of the dirt behind like traditional mopping that tend to just move dirt around. When the microfiber mop head becomes saturated it Velcro’s off and you throw a brand new pad on and you keep going.
We also have the most amazing window cleaner, which is actually not a cleaner; it is a microfiber window cloth. You can just run it under the tap and clean all your windows and stainless steel steak free, and lint free with just water.
The whole idea of Gentle Earth Products is to minimize the use of toxic chemicals and to utilize technologies like microfiber to provide a healthy clean. We also do laundry detergent and dish soap. These are products that offices often use.
These products are Castile based. Castile is a great natural soap to use as it is made from things like coconut oil, olive oil and sunflower oil. We take those oils and we saponify them with lye. This produces something that is really very gentle on the skin and the hair. We produce a whole line of eco skincare products and eco cleaning products out of these basic ingredients.
I started Gentle Earth Products out of my concern that we do not currently treat our sewage in Victoria. All these ingredients, whether through cleaning or personal care, will go down the drain and go straight into the ocean. It is important for the workplace to take responsibility for their employee, their families and friends but also for the environment. Partially in places like Victoria.
If you like more information about non-toxic office cleaning in Victoria BC contacts us today.