The astronomical spring (Northern Hemisphere) 2016 began on Sunday, March 20. It will end on Sunday, June 1. We celebrate by building a big wicker man and ….. no those days are over. Just a few charred photographs left to remind me. All we do now is have a jolly good spring clean. And here’s how to do it plastic free….

For cleaning products I use a combination of bought and what I have in the cupboard in conjunction with a bloody good scrub… i.e. both chemical and manual cleaning

Chemical Cleaning 
Uses the power of chemicals in a solution to remove soils. Soils in this case refers to stains. You can read how alkaline dissolve fat and  why vinegar works here.

Places to buy and tips on how to make cleaning products here

Mechanical Cleaners
These are the tools used to loosen, collect  and wipe up up dirt such as brushes mops and scouring pads. Often used in conjunction with chemical cleaners of course.

All Posts

Antiseptics & Disinfectants

This post talks about Microbes Antiseptics Disinfectants Alcohol Bicarbonate Of Soda Vinegar Hydrogen  peroxide Soap Essential oils This is an area where you want to do your own research and decide what level ...
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Buckets – metal

Unlike cheaper plastic models, metal, industrial strength, hardworking galvanised products will give you years of service. We work in the building & landscaping trade and use these in preference to anything else ...
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Car Wash & Screen Clean

New Product - Cleaning Products - for home, business and car A reduction rather than a plastic free solution, this company offer concentrated product in a capsule form that you then dilute ...
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Cleaning Liquid Refills

ECOVER  do all of these products and you can get your plastic bottle refilled. To find where Ecover have a refill station check the  postcode search on their site TOILET CLEANERLAUNDRY LIQUID,FABRIC SOFTENER,MULTISURFACE ...
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Cleaning Products – Chemical – Buy or make

For cleaning products I use a combination of bought and what I have in the cupboard in conjunction with a bloody good scrub... i.e. both  chemical and manual cleaning. Chemical Cleaning uses the ...
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Cleaning products – refill system

Planet Earth offers a range of household cleaning products with a unique refill and reuse system. It works and has been scientifically tested to be as good as the leading brand. It’s ...
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Dirt, pH balance and chemical cleaning

In this post you cad read about Soils (Dirt) Alkaline Acid Cleaning Dirt, stains and even rusts  are all known  as soils in the cleaning world.  That is as  in soiled rather than ...
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How to wash the pots plastic free…..

By Hand...Sigh Washing up liquid and I use Ecover  in a refillable plastic bottle. I know the bottle is plastic but kitchen? glass? This is a case for reusable plastic if ever there ...
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Laundry

Laundry Liquid & Fabric Conditioner ECOVER  do a LAUNDRY LIQUID, FABRIC SOFTENER, You can get your plastic bottle refilled.  To find where Ecover have a refill station check the  postcode search on ...
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mop and bucket

 I am something of an old pro when it comes to scrubbing. In my youth I was the cleaner of casinos. I swabbed down the gaming area, restaurant and croupiers changing rooms ...
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Pan Scrub Luffas

The slightly rough texture of the luffa makes it ideal for gentle scouring.  The luffa, also spelled loofah, is the fruit of either L. aegyptiaca and L. acutangula. It looks rather like a cucumber. If harvested young ...
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Pan Scrubs – Coconut

There's a new kid on the block – the coconut fibre scouring pad. It is a tangle of strong matted coconut fibre. It is tougher than the luffa not as brutal as ...
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Pot & Bottle Brushes

There I was happily scouring away when I realised it was taking longer than usual to shift the burnt remnants at the bottom of the pan. When I checked out my little ...
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Rubber Gloves

There comes a time in every girls life when waterproof  hand protection is necessary (just don't ask), and I found myself  searching for plastic-free rubber gloves in a hurry. At first I ...
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Scour, Scrub & Wipe

Although I use natural cleaning products like soap, bicarbonate of soda and occasionally Ecover cleaning products, I prefer not to. Cold water and elbow grease clears most things. I know I sound ...
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Scrubbing away

In my opinion you can use natural products most of the time but occasionally synthetics come into their own. This is especially true if you are cleaning tiles. Here steel scourers can ...
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Soap

 Making Soap  Basic soap is made from lye, oils or fats (animal or vegetable) and water. Saponification When these three are mixed together a chemical process called saponification takes place. The end ...
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Sponge Cloth Biodegradable

Oh joy - just sourced some plastic free sponge cloths. I love these things. Sponge cloths are  extremely porous and great for wiping up water. Plus they dry really quickly. I love my cotton ...
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Sweeping Up

When it comes to sweeping you cant beat a nice wooden brush with natural plant fibres. Why? Natural fibres have less flick than synthetic fibres which means less muck spattering. They collect ...
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Washing Soda

Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the water-soluble sodium salt of carbonic acid. It is alkaline. Pure sodium carbonate is a white, doorless powder with a strongly alkaline taste. Washing Soda or Sodium ...
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Washing Soda, Bicarbonate Of Soda & Borax

When I first went plasticfree I read up on alternative ways to clean online. Lots of people reccomended Bicarbonate of soda, Washing Soda and Borax. So I went out and stocked up ...
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Washing Up Liquid Soap

Soap Flakes I did try to use soap flakes to wash up. I did not find it  pleasant. Yes it cleaned the pots but everything was so slippery that it was a ...
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New Product – Cleaning Products – for home, business and car

A reduction rather than a plastic free solution, this company offer concentrated product in a capsule form that you then dilute in water. Both the capsule and the product that is. The capsule itself is water soluable – hooray no plastic.

From the website…
Wolf Formulations Ltd has developed a wide range of innovative green cleaning products which are designed with a practical single dose water soluble eco capsule concept. The super concentrated eco capsules have the cleaning power of the standard ready-to-use cleaning products, whilst reducing waste and minimising cost. Our range of green cleaning products have been developed to offer complete cleaning solutions for household, motor vehicle and professional sectors.

Cleaning At Work

They do cleaning products for kitchen and bathroom cleaners both for the domestic and businesses market.
Of course keen readers of this blog know we have covered those bases already. .
However it could be a useful option for professional cleaners who need to use or distribute a lot of products.
profi-max_floor
PROFI-MAX Floor Cleaner
profi-max_kitchen
PROFI-MAX Kitchen Cleaner
profi-max_glasswindow
PROFI-MAX Glass Cleaner
profi-max_bathroom
PROFI-MAX Bathroom Cleaner

Washing The Car 

What caught my eye was the car cleaning products. I always use washing up liquid (refillable) a sponge and whenever available, a boy scout…. but I guess purists out there might prefer something more specialised.
AUTO-MAX Car Screen Wash
Car Wash & Wax Shampoo 3x9ml
AUTO-MAX Car Wash & Wax
Car Window & Mirror Cleaner 4x5ml
AUTO-MAX Window & Mirror Cleaner
Car Screen Wash
AUTO-MAX Gift Sets

Not so green?

Sadly the onward packaging doesn’t look so good. It appears to be a hard plastic case? Recyclable? I don’t know. And it appears to vary depending on the product.

Buy Cleaning Products

Being committed to local shopping I prefer to buy that way whenever possible. I would encourage you to do the same. One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the local shops seeing what you can source.

If you can’t buy local, please do check the links in the posts.  They link direct  to the suppliers.  Do consider buying from them and support their online businesses.

If you can’t do that then I have put together and Amazon catalogue. Yes I know…

Amazon is a very dirty word at the moment and I thought long and hard before suggesting them.  Heres why I went ahead….. No we are not entirely happy with Amazons recent history. However these links are for 3rd party sellers, we have always found the Amazon service to be good and their packaging usually compostable. In the absence of anything else we feel we can recommend them.

Mop & Bucket

8 Litre Galvanized Mop Bucket £7.99	3x General Use Mops & Brushes Cotton Mo… £9.34	Lily and Brown Cotton Mop with Handle
BM02 Pure Yarn Cotton Mop 225g with Handle £8.88	Sealey BM05 Pure Yarn Cotton Mop 340g with … £11.68	Silverline 509117 Pure Yarn Socket Mop £3.01
13 Litre Galvanised Bucket £7.06

Dustpan & Brush

Faithfull BRBASS11 Stiff Bassine Hand Brush £1.94	Silverline 794337 11 Inch Stiff Bassine Han… £2.94	HARRIS VICTORY COCO HANDBRUSH -94101-
Harris Victory PA359H 12-inch Coco Broom wi… £3.62	HBC Broom Head – Plain Stock, Filled Natura… £6.29	Harris Victory PA357H 10-inch Bassine Broom… £3.48
Groundsman 13-inch Bassine/ Cane Broom wit… £8.39	Lily and Brown 12-inch Natural Soft Coco Br… £6.98	Faithfull Pine Handle 48In X 15/16In £1.44

Silverline 993059 Broom Handle Bracket Meta… £4.13	Town & Country 48-inch x 15/ 16-inch Th… £4.99	Town & Country 9-inch Medium Head Deck … £7.00
10″ Heavy duty bassine bristle hard yard br… £7.49	Town & Country 12-inch Soft Broom Head £6.99 screw head	Metal Hooded Dustpan £10.95
2x Metal Hand Shovels Large size Hand &… £8.45	Harris Victory Metal Dustpan £9.00	Metal dustpan and handbroom with natural br…

Metal Long Handled Dustpan and Brush Strong… £34.99	Rolson 60690 300mm Metal Dust Pan £7.50

DISCLAIMER

The information in this blog is for guidance only. None of the recipes or tips in this blog have not been tested on anyone other than me and some fearless chums. I strongly advise you do your own research and proceed very carefully. Be aware of the risks of listening to someone who

a) doesn’t have any training in this field

b) most of what they know comes from Google,

That’s me I mean.

Also posts may be incomplete, out of date and possibly wrong! Please read on to find out why…